
Qass. 
Book.. 



Miifk:. 






-^ 




MEMOIR 



COLONEL SETH WARNER 



BY 



DANIEL CHIPJVIANv LL. D. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED, 



THE LIFE OF 



OOLONEL ETHAN ALLEN, 



BY 



JARED SPARKS, LL. D. 



MIDDLEBURY ." 

4'UBLISHED BY L. W. CLAF.F 

1848. 



Entered' according to act of Congress, in the 
year 1848, 

By Daniel Chipman, 
in the office of the Clerk of the Di&trict Court fw- 
the District of Vermont. 



JUSTUS COBB, PRIIfTfilJ, mjPDLEBURT, TC. 



■^ 



PREFACE. 



Seteral years since, I observed that great injus- 
tice had been done to the character of Seth Warner, 
by certain unintentional errors in existing history. 
1 ob^'srved also that historians had omitted to state 
his services so fully as to enable the reader duly to ap- 
preciate his merits, and feeling a strong desire to 
correct those errors,supply those omissions, and trans- 
mit his character to posterity in its true light, I under- 
took to collect materials for a memoir of Seth Warner, 
but I was so unsuccessful, that I was compelled to 
abandon the object. Although I knew Warner, per- 
sonally, only as a boy knows a man, yet, from those 
who were both his and my contemporaries, I had a full 
knowledge of the man, but I could not think it either 
useful or proper to portray his character^ on my own 
authority, unsupported by evidence. 

Within the year past I have been more successful irv 
procuring materials for the memoir. I have obtained 
a short biographical sketch of Seth Warner, published 
in the Rural Magazine in 1795, and I have been fur- 
nished by Henry Stevens, Esq., from his extensive 
collection of papers relating to our early history, with 
Warner's correspondence,and many public documents^ 
without which, I should not have undertaken to write 
the memoir. As Warner was a principal leader of 
the Green Mountain Boys, during their controversy 
with New York, and was constantly engaged in th^ 



IV PREFACE. 

defence of the New Hampshire Grants, from the year 
1763 to 1775, it was necessary to insert an abridged 
history of the controversy. This is principally taken 
from Thompson's History of Vermont. Those who 
are intimately acquainted with this history, will pass 
it without reading, but it may be both interesting and 
useful to the rising generation— it may create a taste 
for reading a more full history of their native state. — 
And may they be still farther improved by the con- 
templatibn of the character of a noble revolutionary 
patriot — may it enlarge their views and elevate them 
to a love of country not to be displaced by a love of 
party, which, often, so narrows the mind as to render 
it incapable of embracing the general interest. 



SETH WARNER. 



The history of any people in defence of 
their rights against a more powerful assail- 
ant, is ever interesting, the more so^ if, not 
only their independence as a people, but 
the farms on which they lived were at stake. 
We are still more deeply interested in the 
struggle, if those farms had been rendered 
more dear to them by the hardships and pri- 
vations which they had endured as pioneers 
in the settlement of a new country. Such 
is the history of the New Hampshire Grants 
— the ^^fcly history of Vermont, and all 
are anxious to obtain a knowledge of the 
leading men, to whom we are most indebt- 
ed for the successful defence of the N~. H. 
Grants, and the establishment of the inde- 
pendent government of Vermont. 

It has never been a matter of controver- 
sy, but all who have a competent knowledge 
of those early times are agreed that Ethan 
Allen and Setii Waener, were, to say 
the least, among the most efficient leaders 
of the Green Mountain Boys. 



MEMOIR OE ^ 

In the first volume of Sparks' American 
Biography is a memoir of Ethan Allen,* 
from which the reader may obtain as com- 
petent a knowledge of the man as he can 
desire — he will find his character with all 
his eccentricities, clearly, truly and fully 
portrayed. The character of Seth Warner, 
to whom we are so deeply indebted for the 
independence of Vermont, and who was so 
distinguished an officer in the war of the 
revolution should also pass down to future 
generations in its true light. To effect this, 

1 shall portray his character as fully as the 
scanty materials which can be obtained at 
this late day, and my own recollection of the 
men of those early times will admit. 

Seth Warner was born in Roxbury, 
then a parish of Woodbury, in Connecticut, 
in the year 1743. Without any advantages 
for an education beyond those which were 
found in the common schools of those times, 
he was early distinguished by his . energy, 
sound judgment, and manly and noble 
bearing. In the year 1763, his father. Dr. 
Benjamin Warner, removed to Bennington, 
in the New Hampshire Grants, the second 
year after the first settlement of the town. 
The game with which the woods abounded 

* By permission of the Author, this memoir is in" 
eorporated into the present volume. 



I 



SETH WAHNER. ■/ 

-at once attracted the attention of young 
Warner, and he was soon distinguished as 
an indefatigg^ble, expert, and successful hun- 
ter. About this time a scene began to o 
pen, which gave a new direction to the ac- 
tive and enterprising spirit of Warner — the 
controversy between New York and the 
settlers upon the New Hampshire Grants 
had commenced. To enable the reader du- 
ly to estimate the services and merits of 
Warner, in his defence of the N. H. Grants 
against the claims of New York, it seems 
necessary to give a concise history of the 
rise and progress of that controversy. 

When the English commenced their estab- 
lishment at Fort Dummer, within the present 
limits of Brattleboro', that fort was supposed 
to be within the limits of Massachusetts, and 
the settlement in that vicinity was made un- 
der grants from that Province. But after 
a long and tedious controversy between 
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, respects 
ing their di^ iBionline, George II. finally de- 
cided, on the 6th of March, 1740, that the 
northern boundary of Massachusetts be a 
similar curve line, pursuing the <50urse of 
Merrimack river, -at three miles, on the north 
side thereof, beginning at the Atlantic 0- 
cean and ending at a point due north of Pa- 
tucket Falls, und a straight line from thence 



JEIt 



8 MEMOIR OF g|i 

due west untfl it strikes his Majesty's other 
governments. This line was run in 1T41, 
when Fort Dummer was found to be beyond 
the Hmits of Massachusetts, to the north, 
and as the King repeatedly recommended 
to the Assembly of New Hampshire to make 
provision for its support, it was generally 
beheved to have fallen within the jurisdic- 
tion of that Province, and being situated on 
the west side of Connecticut lliver, it was 
concluded that New Hampshire extended as 
far west as Massachusetts, that is, to a 
line twenty miles east of Hudson River.^^In 
the year 1741,. Benning "VYentworth was 
commissioned Governor of New Hampshire, 
and on the 3d of January, 1749,. he made a 
grant of a township six miles square, situa- 
ted, as he conceived, on the western border 
of New Hampshire, being twenty miles east 
of Hudson River, and six miles north of the 
Massachusetts hue. This township, in allu- 
sion to his own name, he called Bennington. 
About the same time, a correspondence was 
opened between him and the Governor of 
New York, in which was urged their respec- 
tive titles to the lands on the west side of 
the Connecticut River, yet, without regard 
to these conflicting claims, Wentworth pro- 
ceeded to make further grants. 



SETH WAENER. 9 

In 1754, these grants amounted to fifteen 
townships, But this year hostihties commen- 
ced between the French and EngHsh Colo- 
nies, which put a stop to further applications 
for grants, until the close of the war in 1760. 
During the war, the New England troops 
opened a road from Charleston, N. H., to 
Crown Point, and by frequently passing 
through these lands, became well accjuaint- 
ed with their fertility and value, and the 
conquest of Canada having removed the 
danger of settling in this part of the country, 
these lands were eagerly sought by adventu- 
rers and speculators. The Governor of New 
Hampshire, by advice of his council, now 
ordered a survey of Connecticut river to be 
made for sixty miles, and three tiers of town- 
ships to be laid out on each side* 

As applications for land stiU increased, 
further surveys were ordered to be made, 
and so numerous we^re^ the applications, that 
during the year 1761 no less than sixty 
townships were granted on the west side of 
Connecticut River. The whole number of 
townships, in one ar two years more, amount- 
ed to 138. The extent was from Connect • 
icut River on the east, to a line twenty miles 
east of Hudson river,' so far as that river 
runs from the north, and north of that as far 
west as Lake Champlain. By tl^e fees which 



M^t^^ 



10 MEMOIR OF '■ ^ 1^ 

Wentworth received for these grants, and by 
reserving 500 acres in each township for 
himself, he was evidently accumulating a 
large fortune. 

The Governor of New York, wishing to 
have these lands, became alarmed at the pro- 
ceedings of the Governor of New Hampshire 
and determined to check them. For this 
purpose, Mr. Golden, Lieut. Gov. of Ncav 
York, on the 28th December, 1763, issued 
a proclamation in which he recited the 
graints made by Charles II. to the Duke of 
York in 1664 and 1674, which included a- 
mong other parts afl the lands from the 
west bank of the Connecticut River to the 
east side of Delaware Bay. Founding his 
claim upon the grants, he ordered the sher- 
iif of the County of Albany to make return 
of the names of all persons who had taken 
possession of lands on the west side of Con- 
neGti<;ut river under titles derived from the 
Governor of New Hampshire. To prevent 
the effects which this proclamation was cal- 
culated to produce, and to inspire confidence 
in the validity of the New Hampshire grants, 
the Governor of New Hampshire issued a 
counter proclamation on the 13th day of 
March, 1764, in which he declared that the 
grants to the Duke of York were obsolete-- 



BETH WARNER* 11 

that N-ew Hampshire extended as far 
west as Massachusetts and Connecticut, and 
that the grants of New Hampshire would be 
confirmed by the Crown, if the jurisdiction 
shouhi be altered. He exhorted the set- 
tlers to be industrious and diligent in cul- 
tivating their lands, and not to be intimida- 
ted by the threatenings of New York. He 
required all the civil officers to exercise ju- 
risdiction as far as grants had been made, 
and to punish all disturbers of the peace. 
This proclamation seemed to quiet the minds 
of the. settlers. Having purchased their 
lands, and holding them under a charter 
from a Royal Governor, and after such as- 
surances from him, they had no idea that a 
controversy between the two Governors re- 
specting their jurisdiction would ever affect 
the validity of their titles. 

New York had heretofore founded her 
claims to the lands in question upon the 
grants to the Duke of Yorl^, but choosing 
no longer to rely on so precarious a title, 
application was now made to the Crown for 
a confirmation of the claim. This applica- 
tion was supported by a petition purporting 
to be signed by a great number of the set- 
tlers of the New Hampshire Grants, repre- 
senting that it would be for their advantage 
to be annexed to the Colony of New York, 



12 MEMOIR OF 

and prajdng that the western bank of the 
Connecticut river might be estabhshed as 
the Eastern boundary of the province. In 
consequence of this petition and apphcation 
of the Government of New York, his Maj- 
esty on the 20thof July, 1764, ordered that 
the Western bank of the Connecticut river, 
from where it enters the province 6f Mass- 
achusetts, as far north as the 45th degree of 
north hititude, be the boundary hne between 
the provinces of New York and New Hamp- 
shire. This determination does not appear 
to be founded on any previous grant, but 
was a decision which the wishes and conve- 
nience of the people seemed to demand. 
Surprised as were the settlers on the New 
Hampshire Grants at this order, it produced 
no serious alarm. They regarded it mere- 
ly as extending the jurisdiction ofNewY^ork 
over their territory. To that jurisdiction, 
they were willing to submit, and they had 
no apprehension that it would in any way 
affect their titles ' to the lands on which they 
lived . Having purchased and paid for them , 
and holding deeds of the same under grants 
from the Crown, they could not conceive by 
what parversion of justice, they could be 
compelled by the same authority to repui% 
chase their land?; or abandon then;. 



m 



SETH WAENER, 13 

The Governor of New Hampsliire at first 
remonstrated against the change of jurisdic- 
tion, but was induced to abandon the contest, 
and issued a proclamation recommending to 
the proprietors and settlers due obedience to 
the authority and laws of New York. The 
royal decree by which the division line be- 
tween New Hampshire and New York 
was established, was construed very differ- 
ently by the different parties concerned. 
The settlers on the N. H. Grants considered 
that it only placed them thereafter under 
the jurisdiction of New York, and to this 
they were willing to submit, but they had 
no idea that the titles of their lands could 
be affected by it. Had the Government of 
New York given the Royal decree the same 
interpretation, no controversy would have 
arisen. The settlers would have acknowl- 
edged the jurisdiction of New York without 
a murmur. But that Government gave to 
the decision a very different construction — 
that the order had a retrospective operation, 
that it decided, not only what should hereaf- 
ter be, but what had always been the eastern 
boundary of New York, and consequently, 
the grants made by New Hampshire were 
illegal and void. With these views, the Gov- 
ernment of New York proceeded to extend its 



14 MEMOIR OF 

jurisdiction over the New Hampshire Grants. 
The settlers were called upon to surrender 
l^eir charters and repurchase their lands 
under charters from New York. The set- 
tlers on the east side of the Mountain, under 
the grants from New Hampshire, generally 
complied with this order, but all the settlers 
on the west side of the Mountain peremptori- 
ly refused, and the lands of those who did 
not comply with the order were granted to. 
others, in whose names actions of ejectment 
were commenced before the courts inAlbany, 
and judgments invariably obtained against 
the settlers. 

Finding they had nothing to hope from 
the ordinary forms of law they determined 
upon resistance to the arbitary and unjust 
decisions of the courts until his Majesty's 
pleasure should be further known, and when 
the executive officers came to eject the set- 
tlers from their possessions, tliey were not 
permitted to execute their process. 

For the jDurpose of rendering their resis- 
tance more effectual, various associations 
were formed among the settlers, and at 
length a convention of representatives from, 
the several towns on the west side of the 
Mountain was called. This convention met 
in the autumn of 1766, and after matui-e de- 



m 



»► 



SETH WARNER. 15 

liberation, they appointed Samuel Robinson, 
of Bennington, an agent to represent to the 
Court of Great Britain the grievances of the 
settlers, and to obtain, if possible, a confir- 
mation of the New Hampshire Grants. On 
the 3d of July, 1766, the Colonial Assem- 
bly of New York had passed an act erecting 
a portion of the territory covered by the 
New Hampshire Grants into a county by the 
name of Cumberland, and made provision 
for building therein a Court House and Jail, 
to be located at Chester, but in consequence 
of the representations made by Mr. Robin- 
son at the British Court, his Majesty was 
pleased to make an order annulHng this act 
of the Colonial Legislature, and on the 14th 
of July following, another special order w^as 
obtained prohibiting the Governor of New 
York upon pain of his Majesty's highest dis- 
pleasure, from making any further grants 
whatever of the lands in question, until his 
Majesty's further pleasure should be known 
concerning the same. But before Mr. 
Robinson had fully accomplished the busi- 
ness of his mission, he was so unfortunate as 
to take the Small Pox, of which disorder he 
died in London, in October, 1767. 

Notwithstanding the annulling of the act 
of the Colonial Legislature, above mentioned,, 
and the prohibitions contained in the order 



16 MEMOIR OP ■ 

of the 24th of July, the Government of New 
York contmued to make grants, and proceed- 
ed in carrying out their design of dividing 
the territory into counties. 

They had already established a Court of 
Common Pleas, and appointed Judges in the 
county of Cumberland after they had official 
notice of the annulling of the act by which 
that county was estabhshed. The county of 
Cumberland extended as far north as the 
north lines of the towns of Tunbridge, Straf- 
ford and The tford. All the territory north 
of this, on the east side of the Mountain, was 
erected into a county by the name of 
Glocester. A Court House and Jail were 
erected in Newbury, for the county of Glo- 
cester, and in Westminster for the county 
of Cumberland. Courts were holden, and jus- 
tice regularly administered, in both of these 
counties, under the authority of New York, 
until the commencement of the Revolutionary 
War. 

The Southern part of the grants on the 
west side of the Mountain was annexed to 
the county of Albany and the northern part 
to the county of Charlotte, but in this wes- 
tern part of the grants, the settlers were 
careful to keep the administration of justice 
in their own hands. 

In the year 1769, theCouncil of New York 



SE^H WARNER. IT 

decided that the King's order did not ex- 
tend to prevent the Governor from granting 
any lands which had not been previously 
granted by New Hampshire, the Governor 
had therefore continued to make grants to 
his favorites and friends, nor did he confine 
his grants, agreeably to the decision of the 
Council, to the ungranted lands, but in many 
cases re-granted such as were already cover- 
ed by New Hampshire charters. 

But while the success of Mr. Robinson'^ 
mission hardly served as a temporary check 
upon the proceedings of New York, it in- 
spired the settlers on the Grants with new 
confidence in the justice of their cause, 
and gave them strong ground to hope that 
their rights would be eventually acknowl- 
edged and protected by the Crown. 

In the mean time, the Government of 
New York continued to make grants, and 
the grantees continued to bring actions of 
ejectment against the settlers, before the 
court at Albany. Ethan Allen, afterwards 
so distinguished, coming to reside in the 
•Grants about this time, undertook to defend 
the grantees in the actions brought against 
them. He proceeded to New Hampshire, 
procured the necessary documents from the 
Secretary's office, employed Mr. Ingersoll, 
an eminent lawyer in Connecticut, and in 

2 



18 MEMOIR OF 

June, 1770, appeared before the court in 
Albany. An action of ejectment against Jo- 
siah Carpenter, of Shaftsburj, came on for 
trial, and the defendant's counsel offered in 
evidence the documents above mentioned, 
among which was the charter of the town- 
ship, and ^ deed of the land in question from 
the original proprietor to the defendant. 
This evidence was rejected by the court, 
on the ground that the New Hampshire 
charters were illegal and void, and the jury 
were directed to find a verdict for the plain- 
tiff. Two other actions being tried with like 
results, no defence was made in the remain- 
ing actions of ejectment. It is related that 
before Allen left Albany, he was called on 
by the Attorney-General and some others, 
who told him that the cause of the settlers 
was desperate and urged him to return home 
and advise them to niake the best terms 
they could with their new landlords, remind- 
ing him of the proverb that " might often 
prevails against right." Allen coolly replied, 
" The Gods of the valhes are not the Gods of 
the liills," and when asked by Kemp, the At- 
torney-General, to explain his meaning, he 
replied, " If you will accompany me to the 
hill of iSennington, the sense will be made 
clear." When the news of the proceedings 
at Albany reached the Grants, th^ people 



SETH WARNER. 19^ 

were highly excited, aiid a convention was- 
holden at Bennington, in -which it Tvas re- 
solved to defend their property, which they 
possessed under the New Hampshire char- 
ters,against the usurpations and unjust claims 
of the Government of New York, by force, 
as law and justice were denied them. Hav- 
ing thus appealed to the last arbiter of dis- 
putes, their resolution was followed by a 
spirited and determir-ed resistance to the au- 
thority of New York. Ajid whenever the 
Sheriff appeared upon the Grants, to arrest 
rioters or eject settlers, he was sure to be 
met by a force which he found irresistible. 
The Sheriff being required to execute a writ 
of possession against James Breckenridge, 
of Bennington, called to his assistance by or- 
der of the Government, a.posse of 750 armed 
militia. The settlers, having timely notice of 
his approach, asseml3led to the number of a- 
bout 300 and made arrangements for resist- 
ing the Sheriff and his posse. An ofl&cer 
with 18 men was placed in the house, 120 
men behind trees near the road, by which 
they were sure the Sheriff would advance, 
and the remainder were concealed behind a 
ridge of land within gun shot of the house ; 
and the forcing of the door by the Sheriff was 
to be made known to those without, by rais- 
ing a red flag at the top of the chimney 



20 MEMOIR OF 

When the Sheriff approached, all were silent 
and he and his men were completely within 
the ambuscade before tliej discovered their 
situation. Mr. Ten Ejck, the Sheriff, went 
to the door, demanded entrance as Sheriff 
of the county of Albany, and threatened, on 
refusal, to force it. The answer from with- 
in was, attempt it and you are a dead man. 
At the same time the two divisions exhibited 
their hats on the points of their guns, whiph 
made them appear more numerous than they 
were. The Sheriff and his posse seeing 
their dangerous situation, and not being in- 
terested in the dispute, made a hasty retreat 
without the firing of a gun on either side. 
In this enterprise, as in all others during the 
contest with New York, Warner was the 
commander, or rather the leader, for all vol- 
untarily put themselves under his guidance, 
and in all their conventions and consulta- 
tions he was looked up to as the able, pru- 
dent, and safe counsellor. 

The New York claimants, finding that 
the militia of Albany county could not be 
relied upon to act against the settlers, now 
sought to accomplish their object by other 
means. By making favorable offers of titles 
under New York to some prominent individ- 
uals on the Grants, by conferring offices on 
others, and by encouraging persons from 



SETH WAKNER. 21 

New York to settle on the unoccupied lands 
which had been granted bj New Hamp- 
shire, thej hoped to divide the people and 
render the New York interests predomin- 
ant. 

To thwart these plans of their enemies, com- 
mittees of safety were organized in the dif- 
ferent towns, and a convention of the settlers 
on the Grants was assembled, which decided, 
among other things, that no officer from New 
York should be allowed, without permission of 
the committee of safety, to convey any person 
out of the district of the New Hampshire 
Grants, and that no surveys should be made, 
nor lines run, nor settlements made under 
New York, within the same. The violation of 
this decree, was to be punished at the discre- 
tion of a court to be formed by the committee 
of safety, or elders of the people. At the 
same time, the civil officers were to exercise 
their proper functions in collecting debts 
and in other matters not connected with the 
controversy. 

To carry out these measures, and be in 
readiness in case of emergency, a military 
association was formed, of which Ethan Al- 
len was appointed Colonel commandant, and 
Seth Warner, Remember Baker, and others, 
were- appointed Captains. Under these, 
the people of the Grants armed and occa- 



%% MEMOIR OF 

sionallj met for military exercise and disci- 
pline. Of this organization Gov. Try on was 
apprised early in the year 1772, by a letter 
from John Munro in which he says: " The 
rioters have established a company at Ben- 
nington, commanded by Captain Warner, 
and on New Year's day his company was re- 
viewed, and continued all day in military 
exercise and firing at marks.'' 

On the 27th of November, 1771, the Gov- 
ernor of New York issued a proclamation, 
offering a reward of twenty pomids each, for 
the arrest of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Re- 
member Baker, and some others. On the 
22d of March, 1772, John Munro, moved 
by a hope of the reward, and a desire of 
notoriety, resolved to attempt the arrest of 
Baker, one of the most prominent of the riot- 
ers. Having collected ten or twelve of his 
friends and dependants, he proceeded to the 
house of Baker, in Arlington, before day- 
light. Baker was awakened by the break- 
ing open of the door, and the entrance of a 
number of men, armed with swords and 
pistols. The intruders rushed upon and 
wounded him by a cut across his head with 
■a sword. Baker being overpowered and 
^ound, was thrown into a sleigh, and convey- 
ed with the greatest speed towards Albany. 
The news of this transaction being sent by 



SETH WARNER. 28 

'tgxpressto Bennington, Warner, with nine 
or ten others, immediately mounted their 
horses and set off with all speed on the road 
to Albany, determined to intercept the 
" Yorkers " before they reached Hudson 
river, and they did overtake them, before 
they crossed that river, at the place where 
Troy has since been built, who, on the first 
appearance of their pursuers, abandoned 
their prisoner, and fled. Finding Baker 
nearly exhausted, by his sufferings and loss 
of blood, they refreshed him and dressed his 
wounds, and then conveyed him home, to 
the great joy of his family and neighbors. 

Shortly after this attack upon Baker, 
Munro made an attempt to arrest Warner. 
Warner, in company with a single friend, was 
riding on horseback in the vicinity of Mun- 
ro's residence, and bemg met by Munro 
and several of his dependants, a conversa- 
tion ensued, in the midst of which Munro 
seized the bridle of Warner's horse and 
commanded those present to assist in ar- 
resting him. Warner, after vainly urging 
him to desist, struck Munro over the head 
with a dull cutlass and levelled him to the 
.ground. Though stunned and disabled for 
the time, he received no permanent in- 
jury, and the spectators manifesting no 
disposition to interfere, Warner passed 



24 MEMOIK OF 

on without any farther interruption. 

Having given a history of the controver- 
sy between New York and tlie New Hamp- 
shire Grants, from the year 17G3 to the 
year 1772, as fully as seemed necessary to 
give the reader a full view of the theatre 
'on which Warner acted so conspicuous a 
part, it will be sufficient to give a more gen- 
eral account of that controversy from tho 
year 1772 to the year 1775, when the Rev- 
olutionary War put an end to this, and all 
other sectional disputes. 

From the determined and successful .op- 
position of the settlers on the Grants, tha 
Government of New York seemed to be im- 
pressed with the difficulty of subjecting them 
by force, and they determined to attempt 
a settlement of the controversy by negotia- 
tion. Accordingly, Gov. Try on opened a 
negotiation by a letter to some of the lead-, 
ing men on the Grants, and, the settlers. 
being anxious for a compromise on just and 
honorable terms, sent Stephen Fay and his. 
son Jonas Fay, to New York, to negotiate a 
settlement. But this attempt to make an, 
adjustment of the different claims proved ab- 
ortive, and only served to produce a higher 
degree of excitement on both sides. The 
settlers were ?nore determined, and more 
vigilant to discover and expel from the 



SBTH WARNER. 25 

Grants all those ayIio favored the New York 
claims. And the Government of ISTewYork 
determined to pursue such measures as would 
terrify the settlers, and frighten them into 
submission. Yf ith this view they passed an 
act more tyrannical and sanguinary than was 
ever found in the code of a civihzed nation. 

The following are some of the leading 
provisions of the act : 

" If any person or persons oppose any 
civil officer of New York in the discharge 
of his official duty, or wilfully burn or de- 
stroy the grain, corn, or hay of any other 
person, being m any enclosure, or if any per- 
sons unlawfully, riotously, and tumultuously 
assembled together, to the disturbance of the. 
public peace, shall wilfully, and Avith force, 
demohsh or pull down, or begin to demolish 
or pull down any dwelling house, barn, sta- 
ble, grist mill, saw mill or out-house, within 
either of the counties of Albany or Charlotte, 
then each of such offences shall be adjudg- 
ed felony, without benefit of clergy, and the 
offenders therein shall be adjudged felons, 
and shall suffer death, as in case of felony^ 
without benefit of clergy." It was made 
the duty of the Governor to publish the 
names of such persons in the public papers 
as should be indicted in either of the coun- 
ties of Albany or Charlotte, for any offence 



26 MEMOIR OF 

made capital by this or any other Jaw, with 
an order in council commanding such offend- 
ers to surrender themselves respectively, 
within the space of seventy days next after 
the pubhcation thereof. 

This order was to be forwarded to the sher- 
iffs and posted up in several public places, 
and this bloody clause was added to the act : 
" And in case such offenders shall not re- 
spectively surrender themselves, he or she, 
so neglecting or refusing, shall, from the day 
appointed for his surrender as aforesaid, be 
adjudged, deemed, and (if indicted for a 
capital offence hereafter to be perpetrated) 
convicted of felony, and shall suffer death, 
as in case of persons convicted of felony by 
verdict and judgment, without benefit of 
clergy." 

At the same time the Governor issued a 
proclamation, offering a reward, for appre- 
hending and securing Ethan Allen, Seth 
Warner, and several others, of fifty pounds 
each. 

So far were these measures from terrify- 
ing the settlers that they were a subject of 
ridicule. Ethan Allen ridiculed them in 
'his own peculiar manner. " They may," 
said he, " condemn us to be hung for refu- 
sing to place our own necks in the halter, 
but how do the fools calculate to hang a 



SETH WARNER. Zt 

tj-reen Mountain Boy before they take him ?" 
And this law continued to be a subject of 
ridicule, as no effort was ever made to put it 
in execution, and but one settler was arrest- 
ed for debt under the authority of New 
York and carried out of the Grants, in vio- 
lation of the decree of the Convention. 

Among the early settlers in the town of 
Danby, were John Hart and Roger Wil- 
liams. They were both men of property and 
were highly respected in the community. 
They both held their lands under grants 
from New Hampshire, and were equally op- 
posed to the claims of New York. Their 
dealings had been pretty extensive, and, un- 
fortunately, in the Summer of 1775, a vio- 
lent contention arose between them, and 
-Hart, being a man of strong passions and 
great resolution, went to Albany and took 
out a capias against Wilhams on a note for 
five hundred pounds, put it into the hands of 
a Deputy Sheriff, who, with Hart and some 
assistants from New York, in a dark and 
rainy night, arrested Williams in bis bed, 
and started for Albany City Hall. An a- 
larm was immediately given, and the set- 
tlers in Danby and Tinmouth were, one af- 
ter another, armed, mounted, and in eager 
pursuit of the Yorkers. Their progress 
through the woods, over the mountains be- 



28 MEMOIR OP 

tween Danby and Pawlet, was greatly im- 
peded by tlie rnud^roots, rocks, stumps, and 
darkness of the night ; but they dashed on, 
and overtook them at White Creek, (now 
Salem, N. Y.) The Sheriff and his assist- 
ants escaped, but they made Hart a prisoner 
in place of Williams, and returned to Danby 
the same day. The committee of safety 
had previously assembled with a great con- 
course of Green Mountain Boys, and small- 
er boys, myself among the rest. As soon 
as the shouts, which burst forth on the arri- 
val of the prisoner, had subsided, and the 
echoes from the mountains had died away, 
the Judges took their seats on the Bench in 
the bar-room, the prisoner was arraigned, 
and, without loss of time, convicted, and by 
Thomas Rowley, chairman of the commit- 
tee and Chief Justice, was sentenced to re- 
ceive thirty-nine stripes with the beach seal 
Qii the naked back. And as Hart had al- 
ways been treated with respect at my fa- 
ther's house, and as this was the first 
punishment of the kind I ever witness- 
ed, I felt that it was inflicted with the 
most cruel severity^— I felt every stroke ii}> 
on my own back. Let it not be said that 
the infliction of this barbarous punishment 
proves that the people of the Grants were 
less givihzed than the people of other parts 



SETH WARNER. 29 

of New England, for long afterwards this 
relic of barbarism was found in the criminal 
code of £ill the States ; but a more advanced , 
state of civilization has since broken up the 
habit by which it had been continued through 
generations of civilized man, and it has been 
exploded never again to find a place in the 
code of any of the x\merican States. The 
foregoing is worthy of record, as it is the 
only transaction of the kind which took place 
after the commencement of the Revolution- 
ary War, and as this was the last opportuni- 
ty a committee of safety ever had to exer- 
cise their judicial functions in the conviction 
of a Yorker, and yet it never found a place 
in any histor}^ — the transaction took place 
too far from Bennington, which, at that time, 
was all the Grants, as Paris under the des- 
potism and during the revolution was all 
France. 

Warner, having been engaged as a prom- 
inent leader of the Green Mountain Boys in 
defence of their property against the unjust 
and oppressive acts of the Royal Govern- 
ment of Now York, from the year 1763 to 
the year 1TT5, was perfectly prepared to en- 
gage heart and soul in the defence of his 
whole country against the unjust claims and 
oppressive acts of the Royal Government of 
Great Britain. Accordingly, we find him 



oO MEMOIR OF 

in the very commencement of the Revolu- 
tionary War, engaged in the enterprise ,a- 
gaingtthe enemy's posts on Lake Champlain. 
Allen commanded the party who took Ti- 
conderoga, and Warner commanded the par^ 
ty who took Crown Point. The following 
account of the raising of a regiment on the 
Grants, and the appointment of the field offi- 
cers is taken from the first vol. of Sparks' 
American Biography, page 288. " The 
troops from Connecticut, under Colonel Hin- 
man, at length arrived at Ticonderoga, and 
Colonel Allen's command ceased. His men 
chiefly returned home, their term of service 
having expired. He and Seth Warner set 
off on a journey to the Continental Congress, 
with a design of procuring pay for the soldiers 
who had served under them, and of soliciting 
authority to raise a new regiment on the N. 
H. Grants. In both these objects they were 
successful. By an order of Congress they 
were introduced on the floor of the House, 
and they communicated verbal^ to the mem- 
bers such information as was desired. Con- 
gress vote^ to allow the men, who had been 
employed in taking and garrisoning Ticonder- 
oga and Crown Point,the same pay as was re- 
ceived by officers and privates in the Ameri- 
can army; and also recommended to the Pro- 
vincial Congress of New york,that,after con- 



SETH WAKNER. 31v 

suiting with General Schuyler, ' they should 
employ in the army to be raised for the de- 
fence of America those called Green Moun- 
tain Boys, under such officers as the said 
Green Mountain Boys should choose.' This 
matter was referred to the Government of 
New York, that no controversy might arise 
about jurisdiction, at a time when affairs of 
vastly greater moment demanded the atten- 
tion of all parties. Allen and Warner repair- 
ed without delay to the New York Congress, 
. presented themselves at the door of the hall, 
and requested an audience, the resolve of 
the Continental Congress having already 
been received and discussed. 

" An em_barrassing difficulty now arose a- 
among the members, which caused much 
warmth of debate. The persons who asked ad- 
mittance were outlaws by an existing act of 
the Legislature of New York, and, although . 
the Provincial Congress was a distinct body 
from the old assembly, organized in oppo- 
sition to it, and holding its recent principles 
and doings in detestation, yet some members 
had scruples on the subject of disregarding in 
so palpable a manner, the laws of the land, as 
to join in public conference with men who had 
been proclaimed by -the highest author- 
ity in the colony to be rioters and felons. 
There was also another party, whose feelmgs 



82 MEMOIR OF 

m\d interest were enlisted on the side of their 
scruples, who had taken an active part in 
the contest, and whose antipathies were too 
deeply rooted to be at once eradicated. On 
the other hand, the ardent friends of liberty 
who regarded the great cause at stake as par- 
amount to every thing else, and who were 
willing to show their disrespect for the old 
assembly, argued not only the injustice but 
tyranny of the act in question, and rep- 
resented, in strong 'colors, the extreme im- 
policy of permitting ancient feuds to mar 
the harmony and obstruct the concert of ac- 
tion, so necessary for attaining the grand ob- 
ject of the wishes and efforts of every mem- 
ber present. In the midst of the debate, 
Captain Sears moved that Ethan Allen 
should be admitted to the floor of the House. 
The motion was seconded by Melancton 
Smith, and was carried by a majority of two 
to one. A similar- motion prevailed in re- 
gard to Seth Warner. When these gentle- 
men had addressed the House they with- 
drew, and it was resolved that a regiment of 
Green Mountain Eoys should be raised, not 
exceeding five hundred men, and to consist 
of seven companies. 

*' They were to choose their own officers, 
except the field officers, who were to be ap- 
pointed by the Congress of New York ; but 



SETH WAEXER. S3 

It was requested that the people would nom- 
inate such persons as they approved. A 
lieutenant-colonel w^as to be the highest of- 
ficer. The execution of the resolve was re- 
ferred to General Schuyler, who immediate- 
ly gave notice to the inhabitants of the Grants, 
and ordered them to proceed in organizing 
the regiment. 

" Meantime Allen and Warner had finish- 
ed their mission and returned to their friends. 
The committees of several townships assem- 
Wed at Dorset to choose officers for the new 
regiment. The choice fell on Seth Warner 
for lieutenant-colonel, and on Samuel Safibrd 
for major. Tliis nomination was confirmed 
by the New York Congress. Whether Colo- 
nel Allen declined being a candidate, or 
whether it was expected that the regiment 
would ultimately have a colonel, and that he 
would be advanced to that post, or whether 
his name was omitted for any other reiison, 
I have no means of determining." 

This is obviously calculated to lessen the con- 
sequence of Warner, and should it go down to 
posterity without comment, they would form 
too low an estimate of his character. And 
yet, when this was written, it was in perfect 
accordance with public sentiment at the time, 
in relation to the character of the two men. • 
Allen and Warner were both distingiaished 



34 MEMOIR OF 

leaders of tlie Green Momitam Boys, in de- 
fending the New Hampshire Grants against 
the claims of New York, but they were very 
different men. Allen wrote and published 
a number of pamphlets in defence of the 
New Hampshire title. The singular bold- 
ness of the language, and the off-hand mode 
of reasoning, if I may be allowed the ex- 
pression, attracted the attention of the peo- 
ple, and they were extensively circulated 
and read throughout New England. In the 
meantime, the narrative of his captivity pass- 
ed through several editions, which were also 
extensively circulated and read. Allen had 
also a peculiar species of bravado, which ren- 
dered him conspicuous, but which is not ea- 
sily described. His answer to the question 
put to him by the commandant of Ticondcr- 
oga, by what authority he demanded the 
fort, Avhich was, " in the name of the Great 
Jehovah, and the Continental Congress," 
perhaps may give a tolerable idea of it. 
He was thus calculated to embolden the tim- 
id, confirm the wavering, and inspire all 
with confidence in their cause. 

From the foregoing, the character of Al- 
len has been kept before the people in bold 
relief, suffering notliing by the lapse of 
time. But Allen was sometimes rash and. 
imprudent. Warner j on the other hand, 



:^; 



m SETH WARNER. 85 

never wrote any thing for the public eye^ 
He was modest and unassuming. He ap- 
peared to be satisfied with being useful, as 
he manifested no solicitude that his services 
should be known or appreciated. He was 
always cool and deliberate, and in his sound 
judgment, as well as in his energy, resolu- 
tion, and firmness, all classes had the most 
unlimited confidence. 

From the foregoing brief sketch of the ve- 
ry different characters of Allen and War- 
ner, it is evident they were far more efii- 
cient and more useful in defending the New 
Hampsliire Grants, than they would have 
been, had they both been Aliens or both 
Warners, and it would not be extravagant 
to say, that had either been wanting, the in- 
dependence of Vermont might not have been 
achieved. But in selecting a person to 
command a regiment, the men of that day 
gave the preference to Warner. Accord- 
ingly, the Convention assembled at Dorset 
to nominate ofiicers for a regiment of Green 
Mountain Boys, nominated Warner for Lieut. 
Colonel to command the regiment, by a vote 
of 41 to 5. And as Allen was a candidate 
for the office, as appears by his letter to 
Governor Trumbull, written shortly after the 
officers were nominated, in which he says, 
that he was overlooked because the old raeA 



36 MEMOIR OF 

were reluctant to go to war, the vote must 
be considered as a fair expression of the 
puMic sentiment in relation to the qualifica- 
tions of the two men for the office. This is 
confirmed by the few cotemporaries of Al- 
len and Warner who still survive, and by 
the traditionary accounts of the men of that 
day. 

In September, 1775, we find Warner in 
at the head of his regiment, during the siege 
of St. Johns by Montgomery, although it is 
evident that both Warner and the officers 
of his regiment were without commissions, 
for we find by Montgomery's orderly book, 
that, on the 16th of September, he issued 
an order appointing Seth Warner Colonel of 
a regiment of Green Mountain Rangers, re- 
quiring that he should be obeyed as such. 
Probably the Provincial Congress of New 
York withheld the commissions on the same 
grounds, on which, in the following year, 
they urged the Continental Congress to re- 
call the commissions which they had given 
to Warner, and the officers of his regiment. 
But the regiment fought as bravely, and 
performed as important services, as any oth- 
er regiment during the campaign, as will 
appear by the following brief account of it. 
Montgomery, having obtained a supply of 
ammunition and military stores, by the cap- 



:fe 



SETH WARNER. 3T 

ture of Chamblj, made his advances upon 
the fort at St. Johns, with increased vigor. 
The garrison consisted of 600 or 700 men, 
who, in hopes of being soon relieved by Gen- 
eral Carleton,made a resolute defence. Carle- 
ton exerted himself for this purpose, but 
such was the disaffection of the Canadians to 
the British cause, that he could not muster 
more than 1000 men, including the regTi- 
lars, militia of Montreal, Canadians and 
Indians. With this force he proposed to 
cross the St. Lawrence, and join Col. Mc- 
Lean, who had collected a few hundred 
Scotch emigrants, and taken post at the 
mouth of the Richeheu, hoping, with their 
united forces, to be able to raise the siege 
of St. Johns, and reheve the garrison. In 
pursuance of this design, Carleton embarked 
his troops at Montreal, with the view of 
crossing the St. Lawrence and landing at 
Longueil. Their embarkation was discov- 
ered bj Col. Warner, from the opposite 
shore, who, with about 300 Green Moun- 
tain Boys, watched their motions, and pre- 
pared for their approach. Just before they 
reached the South shore, Warner opened 
upon them a well directed fire of musketry, 
and grape shot, from a four pounder, by 
which unexpected assault, the enemy were 
thrown into the utmost confusion and retreat- 



# 



38 MEMOIR OF 

ed with precipitation and disorder. When 
the news of Carleton's defeat reached Mc- 
Lean, he abandoned his position at the 
mouth of the Richeheu, and hastened to 
Quebec. Bj these events, the garrison at 
St. Johns was left without the hope of re- 
lief, and Major Preston, the commander, 
was consequently obhged to surrender. The 
garrison laid down their arms on the 3d of 
November, and became prisoners of war, to 
the number of 500 regulars, and more than 
100 Canadian volunteers. In the fort was 
found a nlimber of cannon and a large quan- 
tity of mihtarj stores. Col. Warner having 
repulsed General Carleton, and caused Mc- 
Lean to retire to Quebec, the Americans 
proceeded to erect a battery at the mouth of 
the Richelieu, to command the passage of 
the St. Lawrence, and blockade Gen. Carle- 
ton in Montreal. In this situation of things, 
Montgomery arrived from St. Johns, and 
took possession of Montreal without opposi- 
tion, Gen. Carleton having abandoned it to 
its fate, and escaped down the river in the 
night, in a small canoe with muffled' oars. 
A large number of armed vessels, loaded 
with provisions and military stores, and 
Gen. Prescott, with 100 officers and pri- 
vates, also attempted to pass down the riv- 
ery but they were all captured at the'mouth 



SETH WAKNER. 39 

of the Richelieu, without the loss of a man. 
Warner's regiment having served as volun- 
teers, and the men being too miserably 
clothed to endure a whiter campaign in that 
severe climate, on the 20th of November, 
Montgomery discharged them, with pecul- 
iar marks of respect, and his thanks for their 
meritorious services. Warner returned with 
his regiment to the New Hampshire Grants, 
but instead of enjoying a respite from the 
fatigues and hardships of a campaign during 
the winter, he was called on to return to 
Canada. Although he was not in commis- 
sion, and had no troops under his command, 
yet, Gen. Wooster, who knew him well,- 
did not scruple to write, requesting him to 
raise a body of men, and march into Cana- 
da, in the middle of winter. The letter is 
dated at Montreal, January 6, 1776. The 
following are extracts from the letter. Af- 
ter giving a general account of the defeat 
at Quebec, he says : " I have sent an express 
to Gen. Schuyler, to Washington, and to 
Congress, but you know hoAV very long it 
will be before we can have rehef from them. 
You, sir, and your valiant Green Mountain 
Boys, are in our neighborhood, you all have 
arms, and I am confident ever stand ready 
to lend a helping hand to your brethren in 
distress, therefore, let me beg of you to raise 



40" MEMOIR OP 

as many men as you can, and have them m 
Canada, with the least possible delay, to re- 
main till we can have rehef from the Colonies. 
You will see that proper officers are appoint- 
ed under you, and the officers and privates 
will have the same pay as the Continental 
troops. It will be well for your men to start 
as soon as they can be collected. No matter 
whether they all march together ,but let them, 
come on by tens, twenties, thirties, forties, 
or fifties, as fast as they can be prepared to 
march. It will have a good effect upon the 
minds of the Canadians, to see succor com- 
ing in. You will be good enough to send 
copies of this letter, or such parts of it as you 
shall judge proper, to the people below you. 
I can but hope the people will make a push 
to get into this country, and I am confident 
I shall see you here, with your men, in a 
very short time.'' And Gen. Wooster was 
not disappointed. He did see Warner in 
Canada, with his men, in a very short time. 
Probably no revolutionary patriot, during 
the war, performed a service evincing more 
energy, resolution, and perseverance, or a 
more noble patriotism, than the raising of a 
regiment in so short a time, and marching 
it to Quebec in the face of a Canadian win- 
ter. The men of this day W' ould shiver at 
the thought of it. 



SETH WARNER. 41 

That Warner performed this service with 
incredible dispatch, appears from the fol- 
lowing letter of Gen. Schuyler to Washing- 
ton, dated at Albany, as early as the 22d 
of January. 

Albai)IT, January 22, 177G. 

Dear Sir : 

Col. lYarner has been so successful in 
sending men into Canada, and as a regi- 
ment will soon be sent from Berkshire coun- 
ty in Massachusetts, and as I am informed 
by a letter from Congress, that one regi- 
ment from Pennsylvania and one from New 
Jersey, will be immediately sent to Albany,, 
and put under my command, and as these 
troops can be in Canada as early as any 
which your Excellency can send from Cam- 
bridge, the necessity of sending on those 
troops, which I had the honor to request to 
send, will be superseded. 

I am, sir, with respect and esteem, your 
Excellency's most obedient and very hum- 
ble servant, PHILIP SCHUYLER. 

His Excellency, 

George AYashington. 

Warner had advantages in the perform- 
ance of this service, which no other man 
possessed. The Green Mountain Boys had 
long been armed in their own defence a- 



42 MEMOIR OF 

gainst the Government of New York, and 
he had been their chosen leader. They had 
become habituated to turn out at his call, and 
follow his lead. And as they had been 
successful in every enterprise they had the 
most unlimited confidence, in his judgment, 
his vigilance, his prudence and his unflinch- 
ing courage. Besides, they loved him for his 
moral and social qualities. He sympathised 
with all classes, and this rendered him af- 
fable and familiar with them, and as this 
did not arise from any mean or selfish mo- 
tive, but from the interest which he felt in 
the welfare of his fellow men, he ever main- 
tained a self-respect and a dignified deport- 
ment. Add to this, that the Green Moun- 
tain Boys were zealous and active whigs, 
and it is no longer incredible that they turn- 
ed out with such alacrity at the call of War- 
ner, in defence of their country. This winter 
campaign in Canada, proved extremely dis- 
tressing. The troops were in want of com- 
fortable clothing, barracks, and provisions. 
Most of them took the small pox and great 
numbers of them died. At the opening of 
spring, in May, 1776, a large body of British 
troops arrived at Quebec, to relieve the garri- 
son, and the American army, in their distress- 
ed situation, were compelled to make a hasty 
retreat. Warner took a position exposed to 



SETH WARNER. 4S 

tlie greatest danger, and requiring the ut- 
most care and vigilance. He was always 
in the rear, picking up the wounded and 
diseased, assisting and encouraging those 
who were least able to take care of themselves, 
and generally kept but a few miles in ad- 
vance of the British, who closely pursued the 
Americans from post to post. By calmly and 
steadily pursuing this course, by his habitual 
vigilance and care, Warner brought oif most 
of the invalids, and v/ith this corps of the 
diseased and infirm, arrived at Ticonderoga 
a few days after the main army had taken 
possession of that post. 

Highly approving of their extraordinary 
exertions, Congress, on the 5th of July, 
1776, resolved to raise a regiment out of 
the troops who had served with so much re- 
putation in Canada, to be commanded by a 
Lieut. Colonel. Warner was appointed 
Lieut. Colonel, and Samuel Safford Major. 
Most of the officers of the regiment were 
persons who had been distinguished by their 
opposition to the claims and proceedings of 
New York. By this appointment, Warner 
was again placed in a situation perfectly 
suited to his genius, and, in conformity with 
his orders, he raised his regiment, and re- 
paired to Ticonderoga, where he remained 
to the close of the campaign. 



44 MEMOIR OF 

On the loth day of January, 1777, tlie 
Convention of New Hampshire Grants de- 
clared the whole district to be a free, sover- 
eign, and independent State, by the name 
of Vermont. The Provincial Congress of 
New York was then in session, and, on the 
20th of the same month, announced tho 
transaction to the Continental Congress, 
complaining in strong terms of the conduct 
of Vermont, denouncing it as a dangerous 
revolt and opposition to lawful authority, 
and at the same time remonstrating against 
the proceeding of Congress in appointing 
Warner to the command of a regiment, in- 
dependent of the Legislature and within the 
bounds of that State, " especially as this 
Col. Warner hath- been constantly and inva- 
riably opposed to the Legislature of this 
State, and hath been on that account pro- 
claimed an outlaw by the late Government 
thereof. It is absolutely necessary to re- 
call the commission to Warner, and the offi- 
cers under him, to do us justice." No 
measures were taken by Congress, at this 
time, to interfere in the civil concerns of the 
two States, or to remove Warner from 
his command. Anxious to effect this 
purpose, the Provincial Congress of New 
York, on the 1st of March following, 
wrote again on this subject, and among other 



M 



SETH WARNER. 45 

tilings declared, " that there was no proba- 
bility that Warner could raise such a num- 
ber of men as would be an object of public 
concern." Congress still declined to dis- 
miss so valuable an ojQficer from their ser- 
vice. On the 23d of June following, Con- 
gress was obliged to take up the controver- 
sy between New York and Vermont, but in- 
stead of proceeding to disband Warner's 
regiment, on the 30th of the same month, 
they resolved, " that the reasons which in- 
duced Congress to form that corps were, 
that many officers of diiferent States who 
had served in Canada, and who, as was al- 
leged, might soon raise a regiment, but who 
were then unprovided for, might be retain- 
ed in the service of the United States. 

Fortunately, when Congress acted on this 
subject, Governeur Morris was the only mem- 
ber present from New York, and he was 
too independent to" comply with the wishes 
of his own State, when, in his judgment, 
such compliance would prove injurious to 
his country, and whose views were too en- 
larged to be governed by sectional preju- 
dice, of which, it will appear, he had im- 
bibed a good share. At that day the people 
of New York had imbibed strong prejudices 
not only against the people of the Grants, 
but against the whole Yankee Nation. The 



46 MEMOIR OF 

origin of this was obvious. Yankee sagaci- 
ty very early discovered tlie true character 
of the honest, unsuspecting Dutch popula- 
tion of New York, and there was then a- 
mong the people of New England, as there 
ever has been among all civilized people, a 
base, unprincipled set of villains, constantly 
preying upon the honest, unsuspecting part 
of the community. This set of Yankee 
swindlers combined, and devised a great va- 
riety of means by which to cheat and rob 
the honest Dutchmen. One species of their 
villainy was of a somewhat darker shade 
than the rest. They combined, and select- 
ing those individuals of their class, whose 
formation most nearly resembled that of 
the negro, and who could best act the part of 
a slave, would carefully black them, sell 
them to the unsuspecting Dutchmen, re- 
ceive the money, and return to New Eng- 
land, and the slaves would wash off their ex- 
ternal blackness, escape with safety, return 
to New England, and receive their share of 
the booty. This set of villains were as much 
detested by the people of New England, as 
they were by the people of New York, but 
as there was at that day but very little in- 
tercourse between New York and the New 
England Colonies, except that which was 
kept up by this set of miscreants, they gave 



SETH WARNER. 47 

a cliaracter to the whole people of New Eng- 
land. 

The following letter from Governenr Mot- 
ris, to the President of the council of New 
York, will verify some of the foregoing re- 
marks, and disclose his views of the charac- 
ter of Warner, and the grounds on which he 
opposed the disbanding of his regiment. 
Fort Edward, July 21, 1777. 

Sir: 

I congratulate the Council upon the sense 
of Congress relative to our northeastern 
country, discovered in their resolutions, of 
which I have several copies. I had seen 
one of your resolutions, and supposing the 
letters to Dr. Williams, Mr. Sessions, and 
Dr. Clark, to contain some of them, by the 
advice of Generals Schuyler and St. Clair, 
I opened the letters, and finding myself 
right in that conjecture, I have detained 
them until further orders. Mr. Yates be- 
ing at Albany, I was under the disagreea- 
ble necessity of standing alone whilst I in- 
curred your displeasure, should that be the 
consequence of what I have done. The 
Grants are in a very delicate situation. 
Skeene is courting them with golden offers. 
He has already gained many, and many more 
are compelled to submission. There are not 
a few warm advocates of the British Govera- 



48 MEMOIR OP 

ment among them. At present, it is of in- 
finite importance, to get as many of these 
people as possible to move their families and 
effects, particularly their teams and provis- 
ions, from the immediate vicinity of Bur- 
goyne's army. Warner is their leader, and 
if he be disgusted, depend upon it, he will 
draw after him, in the present circumstances, 
a very large train, for, disagreeable as it 
may be, to tell or hear this truth, yet, a 
truth it is, that very many of these villains 
only want a New England reason, or if 
you like the expression better, a plausible 
pretext, to desert the American States, new 
Vermont among the rest. The enemy will 
be able to make immense advantages of it, 
and they will hardly fail of so doing. Skeene 
is at hand to flatter them with being a sep- 
arate province, and wdiat will weigh more, 
to give them assurances of being confirmed 
in their titles, howsoever acquired. For 
God's sake, let us take care what we do. By 
throwing this people into the enemy's arms, 
we supply them with what they most need, 
and cannot obtain without this imprudence 
— to do this, with the greatest advantages 
in view, would not be very wise, but for the 
sake of a mere feather, (and the govern- 
ment of that country is nothing more in this 
critical juncture,) would be something too 



SETH WARNER. 40 

much like madness for me to name. Gen, 
Schuyler intends to write to the Council on 
the same subject. If the reasons he may of- 
fer should prove satisfactory, you will dis- 
patch an express to prevent the publication 
in the London papers, which I perceive is a 
part of your plan. 

My respects wait on the Council. 

Your most obedient and humble servant, 
GOVERNECTR MORRIS. 

When Burgoyne came up the lake in the 
summer of 1777, Col. AYarner was sent in- 
to Vermont to call out the militia for the de- 
fence of Ticonderoga, as appears from the 
following letter. 

Rutland, July 1, 1777. 

To the Hon. the Convention now sit- 
ting at Windsor, in the State of Vermont. 

Gentlemen : 

Last evening I received an express from 
the General commanding at Ticonderoga, 
advising me that the enemy have come up 
the lake, with 17 or 18 gun-boats, two large 
ships, and other craft, and lie at Three 
Mile Point. The General expects an at- 
tack every hour. He orders me to call 
out the mihtia of this State, of Massachu- 
setts and New Hampshire, to join him as 
soon as possible. I have sent an express to 

4 



^ 



50. MEMOIR OF 

Col. Simonds. Col. Robinson and Col. Wil- 
liams are at Hubbardton, waiting to be join- 
ed bj Col. Bellows, who is with me. When 
the whole are joined, they will amount to 
700 or 800 men. I know not to whom to 
apply except to your honorable body, to call 
out the mihtia on the East side of the moun- 
tain. I shall expect that you will send on 
all the men that can possibly be raised, and 
that you will do all in your power, to supply 
the troops at Ticonderoga with beef. Should 
the siege be long, they will be absolutely 
destitute, unless the country exert them- 
selves. If 40 or 50 head of beef cattle can 
be brought on by the mihtia, they will be 
paid for by the commissary, on their arrival. 
The safety of the post depends on the exer- 
tions of the country. Their lines are exten- 
sive and but partially manned, for want of 
men. I should be glad if a few hills of corn 
unhoed. should not be a motive sufficient to 
detain men at home, considering the loss of 
such an important post might be irretrievable. 
I am, gentlemen, with the^greatest respect,. 
your obedient and very humble servant, 
SETH WARNER. 

When Ticonderoga was evacuated, on 
the night of the 6th July, 1777, the main 
body of the American army took the road 



1^. 

SETH WARNER. 51 

through Hubbardton and Castleton. When 
thej arrived at Hubbardton, the rear guard 
was put under the command of Warner, 
with orders to follow the main army, as soon 
as those who were left behind should come 
up, and keep about a mile and a half in the 
rear. St. Clair then proceeded to Castle- 
ton, distant about sLx miles from Hubbard- 
ton. 

The retreat of the Americans from Ti- 
conderoga was no sooner discovered by the 
British, than an eager pursuit was begun 
by Fraser, with the light troops, who was 
soon followed by Reidesel with the greater 
part of the Brunswick regiment. Eraser 
continued the pursuit through the day, and 
learning that the rear of the American ar- 
my was not far distant, he ordered his men 
that night to lie on their arms. Early on 
the morning of the 7th, he renewed the pur- 
suit, and about 7 o'clock commenced an at- 
tack on the Americans under j Warner. 
Warner's force consisted of his own regi-^ 
ment, and the regiments of Colonels Francis 
and Hale. Hale, for some reason, retired 
with his regiment, leaving Warner and Fran- 
cis with only seven or eight hundred men 
to dispute the progTess of the enemy. The 
conflict was fierce and bloody. Warner 
charged the enemy with such impetuosity^ 



52 MEMOIR OF 

that tliey were thrown mto disorder, and 
gave way, but they soon recovered, formed 
anew, and advanced upon the Americans, 
but were again brought to a stand. At 
this critical moment, Reidesel arrived and 
joined Fraser, with his troops, and Francis 
fell, fighting bravely at the head of his regi- 
ment, which then gave way, and the fortune 
of the day was decided. The Americans 
fled into the woods in all directions. Those 
of Warner's regiment, who heard the order 
to that effect, repaired to Manchester, the 
others, with Francis's regiment followed, and 
joined the main army, and marched to Fort 
Edward. 

All those belonging to Warner's regiment, 
who marched to Fort Edward, were soon af- 
ter sent to Manchester by Schuyler. 

Warner having been stationed at Man- 
chester, by order of Schuyler, Herrick's regi- 
ment of Rangers, raised by the New Hamp- 
shire Grants, was, by the Council of Safety, 
stationed at Manchester, and put under 
Warner's command.* 

When Ticonderoga was evacuated, 
some portion of the inhabitants of the present 

* It is worthy of remark, that, although Vermont 
vfos a frontier state, "Warner's regiment were the only 
Continental troops, that were, at any time during the 
war, stationed within its limits, and they only during 
the summer of 1777. 



SETH WARNER. 53 

county of llutland moved their families, and 
all their property, which could be of use to 
the enemy, to the south part of the state, 
full of resolution to defend their country at 
all hazards ; but a great majority of the in- 
habitants were so shocked and discouraged, 
by the unexpected and, as they believed, 
treacherous evacuation of Ticonderoga, that 
they were thrown into a state of desponden- 
cy, and believing the country must be con- 
quered, each sought his individual safety, 
remaining on his farm and seeking protec- 
tion from the British. By these inhabitants, 
Protectioners as they were called, the Brit- 
ish troops were supplied with large quanti- 
ties of fresh provisions. This at once ar- 
rested the attention of Schuyler, and he 
wrote the following letter to Warner. 

Fort Edward, July 15, 1777. 

Dear Colonel : 

I am favored with yours of yesterday. I 
enclose an order for what clothing can be 
procured at Albany, which must be sent for. 

I have made a temporary appointment of 
Mr. Lyon to be your paymaster, and have 
given him four thousand dollars, which is all 
I can at present spare. Col. Simonds, with 
four or five hundred of his men, will join 
you, but let the others come this way. We 



\^^L^ 



64: MfiMom OP 

are informed that the enemy are gone to 
Ticonderoga, to come by the way of Fort 
George, because they find it rather difficult 
to penetrate by the way of Skenesboro'. 

Secure all the carriages and cattle you 
can. Much depends on preventing them 
from getting supplies of this kind. 

Advance as near the enemy as you possi- 
bly can, seize all Tories, and send them to 
the interior of the country. 

Ee vigilant, a surprise is inexcusable. 

Thank the troops in my name, for behav- 
ing so well as they did at Hubbardton — 
assure them I will get whatever I can to 
make them comfortable. All your regi- 
ment that were here, are already on the way 
to join you. If we act vigorously, we save 
the country. Why should we despond ? 
Greater misfortunes have happened and 
have been retrieved — cheer up the spir- 
its of the people in that part of the country. 
PHILIP SCHUYLER. 

On the same day, Schuyler wrote the fol- 
lowing letter to Col. Simonds, commanding 
a regiment of miUtia in Berkshire county, 
adjoining the Grants. 

Sir: 

I wish to extend my care and attention 



^ETH WARNER. 55 

to eve J part of the country, and afford assis- 
tance whenever it is wanted^ but I am very 
weak here, and the enemy, as I am inform- 
ed, are going to Ticonderoga to come through 
Lake George. However, assistance is want- 
ed on the Grants, and you will march four 
or five hundred men to aid Col. Warner, the 
remainder of the militia to come this way. 
PHILIP SCHUYLER, 

On the 17th of July, General Schuyler 
transmitted the following order to Col. War- 
ner. 

" You will order the militia of New Hamp- 
shire to join you, and if none are yet in mo- 
tion, you will send an express to bring them 
on with all possible dispatch." 

Warner received the foregoing order on 
the 18th of July, and on the same day sent 
an express to New Hampshire, enclosing it in 
the following letter. 

Manchester, July 18, 1777. 

Gentlemen : 

Inclosed is General Schuyler's order for 
raising the militia of your state to join me 
in the defence of the country. According 
to the best information we can obtain, the 
enemy have a force at Castl^ton of about 
3000 men, and many of the inhabitants 



66 . MEMOIR OF 

north of this have fled and left all in the 
hands of the enemy, and many more have 
taken protections of the British, and remain 
on their farms, and should the enemy march 
this way with any considerable force, many 
more will submit, and vfhat will be the 
consequence cannot be foreseen, but this is 
certain, our frontier must be where we have 
sufficient force to face the enemy, whether 
it be on the Grants, in New Hampshire, or 
Massachusetts. Being thus informed of our 
exposed situation, you will at once perceive 
the necessity we are under of immediate 
assistance, and I shall confidently expect 
you will send, to this post with the least pos- 
sible delay, a body of your militia, which 
will enable me to defend this post against 
any force which the enemy may bring a- 
gainst it. 

Your humble Servant, 

SETH WARNER, 

The Honorable Council of 

New Hampshire. 

The orders which Warner had received 
from Schuyler, to take and bring in all the 
property from the country north of Man- 
chester, with which the enemy might be 
supplied, were promptly and thoroughly ex- 
ecuted. Large droves of cattle were brought 



SETH WARNER. 57 

ill and sold at Bennington, under the direc- 
tion of the Council of Safety, who held a per- 
petual session in that town during the sum- 
mer. What Tories there were in that re- 
gion escaped and joined the enemy. The oth- 
er inhabitants were taken and brought be- 
fore the Council of Safety, all of whom de- 
clared that they took the oath of allegiance 
to his Majesty by compulsion, that they did 
not consider themselves bound by it,and were 
ready to take the oath of allegiance to the 
United States. After taking this oath, they 
were discharged. Most of them, soon after, 
fought bravely in the battle of Bennington. 

Through the whole of this unpleasant bus- 
iness, the magnanimity and humanity of 
Warner were conspicuous. But one per- 
son was killed or injured by the scouts du- 
ring the summer. 

There were three inhabitants of the to^vn 
of Tinmouth who were reputed to be Tories. 
One of them, by the name of Irish, was shot 
by Isaac Clark, afterwards General Clark. 
Clark was a Lieutenant in Ilerrick's regiment 
of Rangers and commanded one of the scouts 
sent out from Manchester. He concealed his 
men in the woods not far from Irish's house, 
and after watching the house for some time, 
and finding that Irish was within, and wish- 
ing to ascertain whether he had any hostile 



•58 MEMOIR OF 

designs against the Whigs, instead of sur< 
rounding the house and taking him, he sent in 
one of his men, by the name of Clough — 
unarmed. Clough had been a neighbor of 
Irish, but, on the evacuation of Ticonderoga, 
had moved off. They entered into a conver- 
sation, which was continued for some time. 
At' length, Clough began to suspect that 
Irish intended to detain him, as he was un- 
armed, and feeling unsafe, he walked with 
apparent unconcern out of the door, and 
turning a corner of the log house, out of 
sight of Irish, he set out on a run toward 
the scout. Clark, who was watching, saw 
this, and instantly saw Irish chasing Clough 
with his gun, and perceiving that he intend- 
ed to shoot him before he reached the woods, 
drew up his rifle, and shot Irish dead upon 
the spot. This was represented by the To- 
ries as a wanton murder, and many years 
afterwards, when Clark was in public life, 
and a prominent political partizan, some of 
his political opponents renewed the charge 
of murder against Clark, with many aggra- 
vating circumstances. 

About the first of x\ugust. Stark arrived 
at Manchester, with 800 New Hampshire 
militia, on his way toward the seat of war 
on the Hudson. By General Schuyler's or- 
der, the New Hampshire militia were to be 



SETH WARNER. 59 

stationed at Manchester, under the com- 
mand of Warner, but the Government of 
New Hampshire had given Stark the com- 
mand of the miUtia of that state, independ- 
ent of the Continental officers. 

Situated as were Stark and Warner, in 
this case, men of little minds, actuated by 
Uttle motives, and influenced more by a love 
of command than a love of country , would 
have come into collision at once. But Stark 
and Warner, influenced by higher motives, 
and actuated by a noble patriotism, were 
prepared to serve their country in any sta- 
tion, not inconsistent with their personal hon- 
or, in which they could be most useful. They 
therefore acted together cordially, manifest- 
ing a high degree of respect for each other, 
and in Bennington battle, although Stark 
was the ostensible commander, they in fact 
commanded jointly, so that if the result had 
been disastrous. Congress would not have 
censured Warner for yielding the command 
to Stark. 

It appears by the correspondence between 
Schuyler and Warner, that, soon after the 
American army had retreated to Fort Ed- 
ward, reports were circulated that the ene- 
my were coming down through the Grants 
with a force of three or four thousand men, 
but Schuyler instead of reducing his own 



60 MEMOIR OP 

force by sending a detachment to Manches- 
ter, ordered the militia of Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire to that place. But before 
Stark arrived at Manchester, it was ascer- 
tained that Burgoyne had left, at the differ- 
ent posts in his rear, a force barely sufficient 
to act on the defensive, and keep open his 
communication with Canada. Warner hav- 
ing withdrawn all supplies out of the reach 
of the enemy, his regiment was a suf- 
ficient force for that post ; he therefore or- 
dered the troops, which had been raised on 
the Grants, and put under his command by 
the Council of Safety, to join Stark, making 
his force fourteen hundred men. With this 
force, Stark, on the 9th of August, march- 
ed to Benaington. Warner's family being 
at Bennington, and it being very certain that 
his presence would not be required at Man- 
chester, he accompanied Stark to Benning- 
ton, leaving the post under the command of 
Major Safford. 

On the 13th of August, Stark received 
intelligence that a party of Indians had been 
discovered at Cambridge, about twelve miles 
from Bennington, and he dispatched Colonel 
Gregg,with200men, to stop their progress; 
but he was soon advised by express, that 
there was a large body of the enemy in the 
rear of the Indians, and that they were ad- 



SETH WARNER. 61 

vancing towards Eennington. Stark imme- 
diately rallied his force and made an anima- 
ting call on the neighboring militia, and 
sent orders to Major Safford to join him 
with Warner's regiment. On the morning 
of the 1-ith, Stark moved with his whole 
force towards Cambridge, and, at the dis- 
tance of five or six miles, met Gregg re- 
treating before the enemy, who were only 
one mile in his rear. Stark immediately 
halted and drew up his men in order of bat- 
tle. Baum, who had the command of the 
enemy, perceiving the Americans to be too 
strong to be attacked by his present force, 
also halted, and commenced entrenching liim- 
self on a commanding piece of ground, and 
sent an express for a reinforcement. Stark, 
unable to draw them from their position, fell 
back about a mile with his main force, leav- 
ing only a small party to skirmish with the 
enemy, which they did so effectually as to 
kill or wound thirty of their number, two of 
whom were Indian chiefs, without any loss 
to themselves. Here Stark called a coun- 
cil of war, by which it was resolved that an 
attack should be made upon the enemy, be- 
fore they could receive a reinforcement. 
Stark, with the advice of Warner and other 
chief officers, having arranged his plan, 
gave orders for the troops to be in readiness 



¥ 



62 MEMOIR OF 

to commence an attack on the following 
morning. The next day, however, proved 
to be rainy, which prevented a general en- 
gagement, but there were frequent skirmish- 
es between small parties, which resulted in 
such a manner as to afford encouragement 
to the Americans, and to induce the Indians 
attached to Baum's army to desert in consid- 
erable numbers, as they said, " because the 
woods were full of Yankees." 

This unavoidable delay of a general en- 
gagement enabled the enemy to complete- 
their breastworks, and put themselves in a 
favorable condition for defence. Their prin- 
cipal force was strongly entrenched on the 
nortlrside of the Walloomscoik river, where 
there is a considerable bend in the stream, 
while a corps of Tories in the British ser- 
vice were entrenched on the opposite side of 
the river, on lower ground. The river is 
small and fordable in all places. Stark's 
encampment was on the same side of the 
river as was the main body of the enemy, 
but, owing to a bend in the stream, it cross- 
ed the line of his march twice on his way to 
their position. On the morning of the 16th 
of August, General Stark was joined by Col. 
Simonds, with a small body of militia from 
Berkshire County, Mass., and having recon- 
noitred the enemy's position, he proceeded 



SETH WARNER. 65 

to carry into effect the previous plan of attack. 

Colonel Nichols was detached with 200 
men to the rear of the left wing of the ene- 
my, and Colonel Herrick with 200 men to 
the rear of their right wing. These were 
to join, and then make the attack. Colonels 
Stickney and Hubbard were also ordered 
to advance, with 200 men on their right, 
and 100 in front, to divert their attention 
fix)m the real point of attack. 

As the divisions of Nichols and Herrick 
approached each other, in the rear of the 
enemy, the Indians, apprehensive of being 
surrounded, made their escape between the 
two corps, with the exception of three kill- 
ed and two wounded, as they passed. The 
positions being taken at 3 o'clock in the af- 
ternoon, the action was commenced by Col. 
Nichols, and his example was quickly fol- 
lowed by the other divisions. General 
Stark advanced slowly in front, till the fi- 
ring announced the commencement of the 
attack on the rear, he then rushed forward 
and attacked the division of Tories, and in 
a few moments the action became general. 
" It lasted" (says Stark in his official dis- 
patch) "two hours, and was the hottest lev- 
er saw. It was like one continued clap of 
thunder." The German dragoons made a 
determmed resistance, and when their am- 



*■ 



.mO^ 



64 MEMOIR OF 

munition was expended, they were led on 
by Col. Baum, and attacked the Americans, 
sword in hand. But their bravery was un- 
availing. They were finally overpowered, 
their works were carried on all points, their 
two cannon were taken, Col. Baum was mor- 
tally wounded, and fell into the hands of the 
Americans, and all his men, with the excep- 
tion of a few who escaped to the woods, were 
either killed or taken. The prisoners were 
now collected together, and sent off under a 
strong guard to the meeting-house in Ben- 
nington, and Stark, unsuspicious of danger, 
suffered his men to scatter in pursuit of re- 
freshment and plunder. In this state of 
things, intelligence was received that a rein- 
forcement of the enemy, under Col. Brey- 
men, with two field-pieces, was rapidly ap- 
proaching, and only two miles distant. 
Stark endeavored to rally his exhausted 
forces, but before he could put them into a 
condition to make an effectual resistance, 
the enemy advanced upon them in regular 
order, and commenced an attack. They o- 
pened an incessant fire from their artillery 
and small arms, which was, for a time, re- 
turned by the Americans with much spirit, 
but, exhausted by fatigue and hunger, and 
overpowered by numbers, they, at length, 
began slowly and in good order to retreat, 



SETlI WAR>TER. 6^ - 

disputing the ground inch by inch. 

The remnant of Warner's regiment, which 
then consisted of 130 men, had been suffer- 
ed to remain at Manchester, under the com- 
mand of Maj. Safford, as already stated. 
When the express arrived with orders for it 
to proceed to Bennington, many of the men 
w^ere absent on a scout, and that and other 
causes prevented its marching till the 15th. ^^ 
Owing to the heavy rain on that day, it was '^l 
near midnight before the regiment reached ''^ 
the river, one mile north of Bennington. 
Here they encamped for the night, and a 
considerable portion of the next day was 
spent in putting their arms and equii^ments, 
which had been drenched by the rain, in a 
condition for battle. 

As soon as these were in readmess, they 
marched by the way of Bennington village to 
receive their ammunition and arrived on the 
battle field at the very moment when the A- 
mericans were beginning to fall back. Disap- 
pointed that they had not been in season for 
the first engagement and shared in the glory, 
they now advanced and attacked the enemy 
with great spirit and resolution, being deter- 
mined, says Ethan Allen,to have ample re- 
venge on account of the quarrel at Ilubbard- 
ton. The enemy, w^ho had just been exulting 
ill the prospect of an easy victory, were now 

5 



66' MEMOIR OF 

brought to a stand, and more of the scattered 
militia being now. brought forward by Stark 
and Herrickjthe action become general. The 
combat was maintained, mth great bravery on 
both sides, until sunset, when the enemy gave 
way, and "^ere pursued till dark. 

"With one hour more of day-light," (says 
Stark in his official report,)'! should have cap- 
tured their whole force.' In these two engage- 
ments, the Americans took four brass field 
pieces, four ammunition wagons, and above 
700 prisonerSjWith their arms and accouter- 
ments. The number of the enemy found dead 
on the field! was 2 07, their number of wounded, 
not ascertained. The loss of the Americans, 
compared with that of the enemy ,was trifling. 
They had 30 killed and about 40 wounded. 

To the foregoing account of Bennington 
battle, which is taken from Thompson's His- 
tory of Vermont, the author appended the 
following note : " It has been generally sup- 
posed, and has been so represented, in most 
of the accounts of Bennington battle, that 
Warner was not present in the first engage- 
ment, but this is doubtless a mistake. Stark 
says expressly in his official letfer that War- 
ner w^as with him several days previous to 
the battle, and acknowledges his assistance 
in planning it. The mistake probably arose 
from the fact that Warner's regiment was 



SETH WAENER. 67 

Bot in the first engagement, but arrived just 
in season to decide the fate of the second, as 
above stated." 

Until I read the foregoing note, written 
more than sixty years after the battle, I 
never knew that the fact, that Warner was 
absent with his regiment and did not arrive 
until after the capture of Baum, was contro- 
verted, or the truth^of it doubted by any one. 
The first thing that struck me was, that 
the note was peculiarly calculated to injure 
the character of Warner with posterity. 
They will perceive by the foregoing account 
of the battle, and from Stark's dispatch, that 
Warner had no command in the first engage- 
ment, and that his name is no-where to be 
found in connexion with it. They will also 
learn from the foregoing note, that Warner 
was neither seen nor felt in the first engage- 
ment — that he did nothing to attract notice, 
so that it was understood and admitted for 
more than half a century, that he was not 
in the engagement, and if they shall be sat- 
isfied, that he was in it, the conclusion will 
be irresistible that Warner was so inefii- 
cient, that it was of no importance whether 
he was or was not in it, and they will lay 
him aside with things forgotten. 

Now the first clause in the note is cer- 
tainly true, that it has been generally sup- 



6S MEMOIR OF 

posed, and so represented, that Warner was 
not in the first engagement. I had two 
"brothers in both engagements, one of whom 
resided in Bennington, and was personally 
acquainted with Warner, and thej always 
stated, that Warner was not in the first en- 
gagement. And if it be true that he was 
not in the first engagement, then the whole 
note is a simple declaration of the truth, and 
however unfortunate it may be for the char- 
acter of Warner, the truth must be admit- 
ted. But I am persuaded that, on a can- 
did examination of the subject, it will appear 
that Warner was not in the first engage- 
ment, and so neither his character nor the 
cause of truth will sufier. 

All, I trust, will be agreed, that to set a- 
side a contemporaneous statement of a fact, 
repeated and acquiesced in, for more than 
half a century, positive and direct evidence is 
required, especially, if the fact was of a most 
public nature, and so important and so inter- 
esting to hundreds who were present, that 
it must have attracted their attention at 
the time. And such is the fact, that War- 
ner was absent with his regiment, and did 
not arrive in season for the first engagement. 
A:id here it is worthy of remark, that almost 
all the in.:abitants of Bennington, the towns- 
men of Warner, who had, for years, placed 



1^ SETH WAENER. 69 

the greatest reliance upon him in all cases 
of difficulty and danger, were in both en- 
gagements. The fact we are examining, 
must have been known to these men, and 
truly related, and there could not have been, 
as there was not, any question in relation to 
it, during their Hves. Accordingly, we find 
in Wilhams' History of Vermont, a stater 
ment of the fact as unquestioned, and Wil- ^{ 
liams' History is the highest authority which ..' - 
can be produced in the case. Dr. AYiUiama 
came into this State and resided in the vil- 
lage of Rutland, as early as 1788 or 1789,* 
and immediately set about collecting mate- 
rials for a History of Vermont. In 1793 
he published his History in one volume. 
This embraced no part of the History of 
the Revolutionary War, but he afterwards 
greatly enlarged his History of Vermont,em- 
bracinga History ofthe Revolutionary War, 
as far as Vermont was particularly concern- 
ed with it, and published it in two volumes. - 

It appears that the last of the 2d volume 
was written in 1806, but the work was not 
published till .1809. In the 2d volume of 
this History, page 120, is an account of Ben- 
nington battle, in which Dr. Williams states 
that after the capture of Baum, Warner 

-~?fKev. Dr. Williams began to preach in liuiiiind, ia 
January, 1788. 



1&. 



70 MEMOIR OF 

came up witli his regiment from Manclies= 
ter, mortified that he was not in the first en- 
gagement. Now at the time Dr. WiUiams 
wrote this, a great portion of those who were 
in Bennington battkjwere still Hying, a num- 
ber of whom were leading men in the State; 
as Gov. Galusha of Shaftsbury, the Kobin- 
sons, Fays, Dewey, Brush, Walbridge, and 
others, inhabitants of Bennington. With all 
these Dr. Williams had frequent opportuni- 
ties to converse. There ^vere also living 
at Rutland, at that time, several prominent 
men who w^ere in the battle, and no cotem- 
porary of Dr. Williams will believe that he 
added " mortified that he had not been in 
the first engagement" merely to sound a per- 
iod. And, surely, the statement that War- 
ner was with Stark several days before the 
battle and assisted iiim in planning the at- 
tack, does not prove that Warner lingered 
about the encampment of Stark, and nev- 
er saw his regiment until Safibrd brought it 
to him after the first engagement. On the 
contrary, from the facts in the case, there is 
a violent presumption that he did not. 

Knowing, as Stark and Warner must have 
known, that the regiment encamped about 
five or six miles from the battle grouiad, on 
the night of the 15th, we are to suppose, 
that both Stark and Warner had lost all their 



SETH WARNEE. 'fi 

natural energy and become so stupid that 
they took no steps to hasten the regiment on 
to the battle ground. Could Warner ever 
have thought of being in the engagement, 
mthout his regiment ? They were the on- 
ly veteran troops to be engaged in the con- 
flict — they had often fought under the eye 
of Warjier, and had always displayed great 
bravery and intrepidity. Warner had the 
fullest confidence in them, and they were 
strongly attached to him, as brave soldiers ev- 
er'^are to a brave and high-minded command- 
er, and Warner must have been with them 
early on the morning of tho 16th, to hasten 
their preparation and march to the battle 
ground. And as Warner failed to bring up 
his regiment until after the capture of Baum, 
his name is not found in Stark's dispatch in 
connexion with the first action. 

If we say that Safibrd did not, in the 
night of the 15th, send an express to his 
Colonel, informing him of his arrival, and 
the situation of his men, we impute to him 
a neglect of which he could not have been 
guilty, and Warner having received this in- 
formation, must have been mth his regiment 
on the morning of the 16th, to hasten the 
preparation of his men and their march to 
the battle ground. Judging that they 
could not be on the ground before three o-- 



72 MEMOIR OF 

clock in the afternoon, and so important Tvas- 
it deemed, that Warner's regiment should 
join the attack, and so anxious was Warner 
to command his own regiment in the action, 
it was thought proper to risk a previous 
arrival of the expected reinforcement of the 
enemy, and postpone the attack till 3 o'- 
clock in the afternoon. No other reason for 
thus postponing the attack can. be imagined. 
Fortunately, the reinforcement of the ene- 
my did not arrive until after the capture of 
Baum — and, still more fortunately, Warner 
could not bring up his regiment in season 
for the first action, but brought it up fresh, 
just in time to meet the reinforcement of the 
enemy, and insure a victory. 

On the receipt of Thompson's History of 
Vermont, I read it attentively, and found 
that the author had compiled it with great 
care, and that it was more free from errors 
than such works- usually are. But from my 
own recollection, I discovered a few errors, 
which I pointed out in a letter to Mr. 
Thompson, that he might be enabled to cor- 
rect them in a second edition of his work, 
which I presumed would be called for. The 
following is an extract from his answer : 

" I am much obliged by your remarks, 
respecting the battles of Hubbardton and 
B,ennington, and also the mob to stop the 



BETH WAKNER. 73 

sitting of the court at Windsor. They mil 
enable me to make some corrections, should 
I ever print a new edition of mj work. Is 
it not probable that Warner was with Stark 
up to the morning of the 16th, or day of the 
battle, and, that in consequence of the non- 
arrival of his regiment, he went back to has- 
ten them on, and that the first battle was 
fought before his return? Such a supposition 
seems to reconcile all statements." 

I have not been able to ascertain wheth- 
er Warner was with Gates at the capture 
of Burgoyne, but from the following letter 
from Gates to the President of the Council 
of Massachusetts, it is probable that Wai^ 
ner's regiment constituted a part of his 
force. 

Albany, 25th Nov., 1777.. 

Dear Sir: 

This letter will be presented to the Hon. 
Council, by Colonel Seth Warner, an officer 
of merit. His business at Boston, is to so- 
licit your Hon. Board to give orders for a 
supply of clothing, for the regiment under 
his command. Having experienced the 
good behavior of this corps during the sum- 
mer campaign, I cannot but recommend 
them to your good offices, for the supply 
they so much want, and the more especially, 



74 MEMOIR OF 

as I have in view a service of much impor- 
tance, in which Gol. Warner's regiment will 
be very actively concerned. 

I am sir, with respect, your most 
humble and obedient servant, 
HORATIO GxiTES. 

It is very certain, that after this, Warner 
was able to perform but very little active 
service. His constitution naturally strong 
and vigorous gave w^ay under the fatigues 
and hardships which he endured in the ser- 
vice, particularly in his winter campaign in 
Canada. It has been seen that in the year 
1776, Congress gave Vfarner the command 
of a regiment with the rank of Lieut. Colo- 
nel, and appointed Samuel SaiFord Major. 
They held the same rank at the time of Ben- 
nington battle, but some time after this and 
before the 10th of November following, prob- 
ably soon after the battle, Warner was pro- 
moted to the rank of 'Colonel, SaiFord to the 
rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain 
Gideon Brownson, to the rank of Major. 
In a return of Warner's regiment, made on 
the 10th of November, 1777, Col. Warner 
was returned sick at Hoosic. He recovered 
from this sickness, but was never afterwards 
able to perform any active service, and, of 
course, received no further promotion. J^.ut 



SETH WARNEE. 75 

I find he was continued in the command of 
his regiment, residing mth his family in 
Bennington, to the end of the year 1781. 
In the mean time, the number of men in the 
regiment had been greatly reduced by the 
losses sustained in several hard fought ac- 
tions, and by the capture of Fort George, 
by the enemy, in October, 1780, "which was 
garrisoned by about 70 of Warner's regi- 
ment, under the command of John Chip- 
man, one of his captains. An account of 
which is given in the following letter from 
Warner to Washington. 

Bennington, October 30, 1780. 

Sir : 

Your Excellency has doubtless been in- 
formed of the misfortunes which have be- 
fallen our troops on the northern frontier, 
especially the regiment which I have the 
honor to command, stationed at Foi*t George. 
I will not trouble your Excellency with all 
the circumstances attending the surrender 
of the fort, but refer you to the brave Cap- 
tain Moulton, for more particular informa- 
tion. On the morning of the 3d instant, a 
body of about one thousand of the enemy ap- 
peared before Fort Ann,and demanded a sur- 
render of the fort, and Captain Sherwood, 
who commanded^ was compelled to surrend- 



76 MEMOIR OF 

er it, himself and 50 men becoming^prison- 
ers of war. The enemy then took their 
course through Kingsbury and Queensburv, 
burning and destroying all before them. 
Fort George was then com^mandedby Capt. 
John Chipman, with between 60 and 70 
rank and file, of my regiment, the remain- 
der of the regiment being out on scouts 
about Lake George. The garrison having 
been two _ days without provisions, Capt. 
Chipman sent an express to Fort Edward 
for supphes, who, about four miles from Fort 
George, was fired upon by a party of the 
enemy, consisting, as he supposed, of about 
thirty or forty British, Indians and Tories, 
but he made his escape and gave Capt. Chip- 
man the first information he received, that 
there was an enemy in the vicinity of Lake 
George, and judging that the number of the 
enemy did not exceed thirty or forty, and 
being anxious to avenge the losses which 
the regiment had sustained during the sea- 
son, he immediately dispatched Capt. Sill 
with 50 men in pursuit of the enemy. He 
met the enemy but a short distance from 
the fort, and made a spirited attack on their 
front, which gave way, but he soon found 
himself completely surrounded by a numer- 
ous body of the enemy consisting of British 
Indians, and Tories. In this situation they 



SETH WAENER. 77 

fouglit nobly, until Capt. Sill, Ensign Eno, 
and sixteen non-commissioned officers and 
privates, were killed ; Lieut. Payne and En- 
sign Lighthall were wounded and taken pris- 
oners, with the rest of the detachment except 
Ensign Grant and about 15 privates who 
fought their way through the enemy's lines, 
and made their escape. The enemy hav- 
ing thus overcome Capt. Sill and his party, 
immediately proceeded to invest the fort and 
sent in a flag demaB^ding its surrender, Capt. 
Chipman, considering it impossible with so 
small a number of men, to defend the post 
against such an overwhelming force, sur- 
rendered by capitulation. The articles of 
capitulation are enclosed and are honorable 
to the commander of the fort. 

The commanding officer at Fort Edward, 
at eleven o'clock in the evening of the 9th 
inst., by an express from Fort Ann, received 
information of the presence of the enemy. 
Had he given this information to Capt. Chip- 
man he would not have sent out the detach- 
ment from the fort, and might have saved it. 

Your Excellency's most obedient servant, 
SETH WARNER. 

On the first of January, 1781, the regi- 
ment was reduced, under a resolution of 
Congress, and some of the officers were 



78 MEMOIE OP 

transferred to other regiments. Capt. Chip- 
man was promoted to the rank of Major, in 
the New York line. 

In the year 1.782, Warner removed to 
Boxburj, in Connecticut, his native town, in 
hopes of obtaining rehef from the painful 
disorders under which he was suffering, but 
his hopes proved fallacious, and he gradual- 
ly wasted away till the 26th of December, 
when an end was put to all his sufferings. 

Seth Warner was risii^ six feet in height, 
erect and well-proportioned, his counten- 
ance, attitude and movements indicative of 
great strength and vigor of body and mind, 
of resolution, firmness and. self-possession. 
His commanding appearance, and known 
character, undoubtedly saved him from ma- 
ny an attack by the Yorkers. In one in- 
stance only, during the long controversy 
with New Yoi-k, did any one attempt to ar- 
rest him single-handed. An officer from 
New York attempted to arrest him by force, 
and Warner considering it an act of lawless 
violence, attacked, wounded and disarmed 
him, but, with the spirit of a soldier, saved 
his life, and permitted him to return to New 
York. He pursued his public and his pri- 
vate business among the settlers in the dif- 
ferent towns, with apparent unconcern, and 
yet, he was always prepared for defence. 



SETH WARNER. f9 

He seemed to be entirely unconscious of fear, 
and, in one instance, it was said that this 
trait in his character was the cause of his 
meeting danger, which ^ he ought to have a- 
voided. After his defeat at Hubhardton, it 
was said that he might have been at Castle- 
ton before the enemy reached Hubbardton, 
and thus have avoided the unequal conflict, 
and saved the lives of many brave men, but 
it was soon ascertained that there was not 
any foundation, for this — that the blame was 
wholly with St. Clair, Warner ha^dng re- 
mained at Hubbardton in. obedience to his 
orders. 

When Warner arrived at Hubbardton, 
St. Clair gave him the command of the rear 
guard, with orders to remain there, until 
those who had been left behind should come 
up, and then, follow the main army, keep- 
ing about a mile and a half in the rear. 
That evening St. Clair, with the main 
army, marched to Castleton, leaving Warner 
with his rear guard, not one mile and a half, 
but six miles in his rear. This gross error 
of St. Clair was the sole cause of the defeat 
at Hubbardton. Instead of this, the enemy 
would have been defeated, if St. Clair had 
kept the main army within a mile and a 
half, his own prescribed distance, in advance 
of his rear guard. This error of St. Clair 



80 MEMOIK OF 

has been overlooked, while he has been se- 
verely censured, not for evacuating Ticon- 
deroga, but for not showmg more fight— 
for not makmg some resistance somewhere, 
and for not sending a detachment from Cas- 
tleton to succor Warner, when he knew by 
the firing that he was attacked by the ene- 
my. 

The first charge is too ge neral to require 
or even admit of examination, and the sec- 
ond charge is clearly unfounded. Warner 
having no works of defence, by which to 
protract the contest, it was as obvious then 
as it is now, that a reinforcement could not 
reach him, before he had repulsed the ene- 
my, in which case he would need no succor, 
or, been defeated, as he unfortunately was, 
in which case, by sending a reinforcement, 
St. Clair would only have exposed his army 
to be cut off in detail, committing a more fa- 
tal error, than the first. 

Warner was distinguished for his cool 
courage, and perfect self-possession, on all 
occasions. But in one instance, was he ev- 
er known to be agitated for a moment, or de- 
prived of self-possession, by any disastrous 
occurrence, however sudden and unexpect- 
ed. In the battle at Hubbardton, Francis' 
regiment gave way, owing, as it afterwards 
appeared, to the loss of their Colonel. War- 



BETH WARNSR. 81 

ner had repulsed the enemy, who had rallied 
and renewed the charge, but were again 
brought to a stand by a deadly fire from his 
Green Mountain Boys. At this anxious and 
exciting moment, Warner saw Francis' regi- 
ment retreating, and the battle lost. This 
was too much, even for the nerve of Warner. 
He dropped down upon a log by which he 
stood, and poured out a torrent of execra- 
tions upon the fljdng troops ; but he instant- 
ly rose and, in a most collected manner, or- 
dered his regiment to Manchester. 

Warner was for so long a time and so ar- 
dently engaged in the defence of the New 
Hampshire Grants, and in the defence of hia 
country in the Revolutionary War, that his 
attention seems to have been wholly diverted 
from his own private concerns. He had 
been so long engaged in maintaining the 
rights of property, that a disposition to ac- 
quire it seemed to be wholly eradicated. 
And the moderate property which he inherit- 
ed, he spent in the service of his country, 
and left his family destitute. 

The proprietors of several townships gave 
him traces of land, of considerable value, as 
a reward for his services in defence of th« 
New Hampshire Grants, but the greater part^ 
if not all of them, were spld for taxes, and 



32 MEMOIR OF 

Ms heirs never received any considerable 
benefit from them. 

In October, 1787, the Legislature of Ver- 
mont generously granted to his heirs 2000 a- 
cres of land, in the north west part of the coun- 
ty of Essex. It -was then supposed that this 
land would become valuable by a settlement 
of that part of the county, but "when that 
section of the State was explored, this tract 
of land was found to be of little or no val- 
ue, and it yet remains unsettled. 

Obituary notices of Warner, were pub- 
lished soon after his decease, and by the 
following extracts from them, the reader 
"will learn from his cotemporarics themselves, 
and in their ov/n language, how they loved 
and respected him : 

" This gentleman, from an early period of 
Ms life, took o very decided part in the de- 
fence of the rights of man.and rendered essen- 
tial services in the exalted command which he 
held over the Green Mountain Boys, in 
the defence of the New Hampshire Grants. 
He also distinguished himself, and main- 
tained the character of a brave officer, in his 
command of his regiment during the late 
w^ar. His ability in command, few exceed- 
ed, his dexterity and success were uncom- 
mon. His natural disposition was kind, gen- 
erous, and humane. His remains were in- 



SETH WARNER. 8S 

terred with the honors of War, which were- 
justly due to his merits. An immense con- 
course of people attended his funeral, and 
the whole was performed with uncommon de- 
cency and affection. He has left an amia- 
ble consort, and three children, to mourn 
their irreparable loss." 

Since the foregoing was copied for the 
press, I have received the following, from 
one of Warner's cotemporaries, who still 
survives in his native town of Roxbury. Col. 
Warner struggled long with complicated and 
distressing maladies, which he bore with un- 
common fortitude and resignation, until de- 
prived of his reason, after which he was 
constantly lighting his battles over again, 
not in imagination only, but by the exertion 
of a preternatural physical strength, so that 
it required two or three to take charge of 
him. There was a guard of about 30 men 
kept at his house, from the time of his de- 
cease, the 26th of December, to the 29th, 
when his funeral was attended, and a ser- 
mon preached by the Rev. Thomas Can- 
field, from Samuel 1. 27. " How are the 
Mighty fallen, and ...the weapons of War 
perished. 



84 MEMOIR OJ? SETH WARNER. 

The following inscription is on the monu- 
Baent erected over his grave : 

In memory of 

COL. SETH WARNER, ESQ., 

Who departed this life, December 26, A. D. 1784, 

la the 42d year of his age. 

Triumphant leader atovir armies' head. 
Whose martial glory struck a panic dread, 
Thy warlike deeds engraven on this stone 
Tell future ages what a hero's done. 

Eull sixteen battles he did nght. 

For to procure his country's right. 

Oh ! this brave hero, he did fall 
By death, who ever conquers all. 

When this you see, remember ma 



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ETHM ALLEN. 



The first settlement of Yermont, and the* 
early struggles of the inhabitants not only 
in subduing a ■wilderness, but establishing- 
an independent government, afford some of 
the most remarkable incidents in American 
history. When we now survey that flour- 
ishing State, presenting in all its parts pop- 
ulous towns and villages, and witness the 
high degree of culture to which it has at- 
tained, and which, under the most favored 
social organization, is usually the slow achieve- 
ment of time, we can hardly realize that sev- 
enty years ago the whole region from the., 
Connecticut River to Lake- Champlain was a 
waste of forests, an asylum for wild beasts, 
and a barrier asiainst th^ inroads of the sav- 
ages upon the border settlements of the 
New England Colonies. This change has 
been brought to pass in the first place by a 
bold and hardy enterprise, and an indomita- 
ble spirit of freedom, which have rarely heeu' 
equalled ; and afterwards by the steady per- 



90 MEMOIR OF 

severance of an enlightened and industrious 
population, deriving its stock froiS the sur- 
rounding States, and increasing rapidly from 
its own resources. To the historian this is 
a fertile and attractive theme. By the bi- 
ographer it Ci^n only be touched, as bearing 
on the deeds and character of the persons, 
who have feeen the principal actors in the 
train of events. 

Among those, v/ho were most conspicuous 
in laying the foundation upon which the in- 
dependent State of Vermont has been reared, 
and indeed the leader and champion of that 
resolute band of husbandmen, who first plant- 
ed themselves in the wildernes of the Green 
Mountains, was Ethan Allen. He was a 
native of Connecticut, where his father and 
mother were likewise born, the former in 
Coventry, and the latter in Woodbury. Jo- 
seph Alien, the father, after his marriage 
;with Mary Baker, resided in Litchfield, 
'\vhere it is believed that Ethan and one or 
two other children were born. The parents 
■ afterwards removed to Cornwall, where other 
children were born, making in all six sons 
and two daughters, Ethan, Heman, Heber, 
Levi, Zimri, Ira, Lydia, and Lucy. All 
the brothers grew up to manhood, and four 
or five of them emigrated to the territory 
west of the Green Mountains among the first 



« 



ETHAIT ALLEN. 91 

settlers, and were prominent members of the 
social and political compacts into which the 
inhabitants gradually formed themselves. 
Bold, active, and enterprising, they espoused 
with zeal, and defended with energy, the 
cause of the settlers against what were deemed 
the encroaching schemes of their neighbors, 
and with a keen interest sustained their share 
in all the border contests. Four of them 
were engaged in the military operations of 
the Revolution, and by a hazardous and suc- 
cessful adventure at the breaking out of the 
war, in the capture of Ticonderoga, the 
name of Ethan Allen gained a renown, 
which spread widely at the time, and has 
been perpetuated in history. 

But, before we proceed in our narrative, 
it is necessary to state a few particulars ex- 
planatory of what will follow. Among the 
causes of .the controversies, which existed 
between the colonies in early times, and con- 
tinued down to the Revolution, was the un- 
certainty of boundary lines as described in 
the old charters. Considering the ignorance 
of all parties, at the time the charters were 
granted, as to the extent and interior situa- 
tion of the country, it was not surprising 
that limits should be vaguely defined, and 
that the boundaries of one colony should en- 
croach upon those of another. A difficulty 



92 MEMOIR OF 

of this kind arose between the colony of 
New York and those of Connecticut, Massa- 
chusetts, and New Hampshire. Bv the 
grant of King Charles the Second to his 
brother, the Duke of York, the tract of 
country called New York was bounded on 
the east by Connecticut River, thus conflict- 
ing with the express letter of the Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut charters, which ex- 
tended those colonies westward to the South 
Sea, or Pacific Ocean. After a long con- 
troversy, kept up at times with a good deal 
of heat on both sides, the line of division 
between these colonies was fixed by mutual 
agreement at twenty miles east of Hudson's 
River, running nearly in a north and south 
direction. This line was adopted as a com- 
promise between Connecticut and New 
York, upon the consideration that the Con- 
necticut settlors had established themselves 
so far to the westward under patents from 
that colony, as to be within about tv^enty 
miles of the Hudson. The Massachusetts 
boundary was decided much later to be a 
continuation of the Connecticut liae to the 
n^rth, making the western limit of Massa- 
chusetts also twenty miles from the same 
river. This claim was supported mainly or 
the ground of the precedent in the case of 
Connecticut, and was long Tcsisted by New 



ETHAN ALLEN. 93 

York, as interfering with previous grants 
from that colony extending thirty miles east- 
ward from the Hudson.* 

Meantime New Hampshire had never 
been brought into the controversy, because 
the lands to the westward of that province 
beyond Connecticut Kiver had been neither 
settled nor surveyed. There was indeed a 
Bmall settlement at Fort Dummer on the 
western margin of the River, which was un- 
der the protection of Massachusetts, and 
supposed to be within that colony, till the 
dividing line between New Hampshire and 
Massachusetts was accurately run, when 
Fort Dummer was ascertained to be north 
of that Hne, and was afterwards considered 
as being within the jurisdiction of the sister 
colony. Such was the state of things when 
Benning Wentworth became governor of 
New Hampshire, with authority from the 
King to issue patents for unimproved lands 
within the limits of his province. Applica- 
tion was made for grants to the west of Con- 
necticut River, and even beyond the Green 
Mountains, and in 1749 he gave a patent 
for a township six miles square, near the 
northwest angle of Massachusetts, to be so 
laid out, that its western hmit should be 

*See ^ State of the Right of the Colony of New York, 
with Respect to its Eastern Boundary on Connecticut Riv- 
e)-, ^c. pp. 5, 7. 



y^: 




94 MEMOIR OP 

twenty miles from the Hudson, and coincide 
with the boundary line of Connecticut and 
Massachusetts continued northward. This 
township was called Bennington. 

Although the governor and council of 
New York remonstrated against this grant, 
and claimed for that colony the whole terri- 
tory north of Massachusetts as far eastward 
as Connecticut River, yet Governor Went- 
worth was not deterred by this remonstrance 
from issuing other patents, urging in his jus- 
tification, that New Hampshire had a right 
to the same extension westward as Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut. Fourteen town- 
ships had been granted in 1754, w^hen the 
French war broke out, and, by the peril it 
threatened on the frontiers, discouraged set- 
tlers from seeking a residence there, or vest- 
ing their property in lands, the title to which 
might be put in jeopardy, or their value 
destroyed, by the issue of the contest. Nor 
was it till the glorious victory of Wolfe on 
the Plains of Abraham had wrested Canar 
da for ever from the French power, secured 
these border territories against all further 
invasion from an ancient foe, and opened 
the prospects of a speedy and lasting peace, 
tliat the spirit of enterprise, perhaps of ad- 
venture, combining with the hope of gain, 
revived a desire of possessing and settling 



#^ 



ETHAN ALLEN. 95 

these "wild lands. Applications for new pa- 
tents thronged daily upon Governor AYent- 
worth, and within four years' time the whole 
number of townships granted hj him, to the 
westward of Connecticut River, was one 
hundred and thirty-eight. The territory in- 
cluding these townships was known by the 
name of the JVetv Haiivpsliire Grants, which 
it retained till the opening of the Revolu- 
tion, when its present name of Vermont be- 
gan to be adopted. 

At what time Ethan Allen and his breth- 
ren emigrated to the Grants is uncertain. 
It was not, however, till after the reduction 
of Canada, and probably not till the peace 
between England and France had been con- 
cluded. Meantime among the inhabitants 
of the New England colonies, a market had 
been found for the lands, and settlers were 
flocking over the mountains from various 
quarters. Many persons had passed through 
those lands on their way to the army in Can- 
ada, and become acquainted with their val- 
ue. The easy terms upon which the town- 
ships had been patented by Governor Went- 
worth enabled the original purchasers to dis- 
pose of shares, and single farms, at very 
low prices, thus holding out strong allure- 
ments to settlers. Apprehensions as to the 
validity of the title must also have induced 



M 



96 MEMOIR OF 

the first proprietors to prefer a quick sale, 
with small profits, to the uncertain prospect 
of larger gains at a future day. By this 
union of policy and interest the lands were 
rapidly sold, in tracts of various dimensions, 
to practical farmers, who resolved to estab- 
lish themselves as permanent residents on 
the soil. Of this number were the Aliens, 
who selected their lands in the township of 
Bennington, to which they removed in com- 
pany with several other persons from Con- 
necticut. 

While these things were going on, the 
governor of New York did not remain an i- 
dle spectator. He wrote letters to the gov- 
ernor of New Hampshire protesting against 
his grants, and published proclamations de- 
claring; the Connecticut River to be the boun- 
dary between the two colonies. But nei- 
ther proclamations nor remonstrances pro- 
duced conTicfcion in the mind of Governor 
Wentworth. He continued to issue his war- 
rants ; a population of hardy yeomanry was 
daily increasing in the New Hampshire 
Grants ; a formidable power was taking root 
there, nurtured by the local feelings, united 
objects, and physical strength of the settlers ; 
and die government of New York thought 
it time Lu seek redress in a higher quarter, 
and appeal to the Crown as the ultimate ar- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 97 

biter in all controversies of this nature. Ac- 
cordingly the matter was brought before the 
King in Council, and his Majesty decided 
by a royal decree, in the year 1764, that 
the Connecticut Eiver was the dividing line 
between New York and New Hampshire. 
In this decision all parties seemed to oJc- 
quiesce. Governor Wentworth granted no 
more patents on the west side of the river, 
and the settlers showed no symptoms of un- 
easiness, as the only difference made in their 
condition by the royal decree was, that they 
were now declared to be under the jurisdic- 
tion of New York, whereas they had hither- 
to regarded themselves as under that of New 
Hampshire ; but this change they did not 
contemplate as a gTievance, presuming their 
property and civil rights would be as well 
protected by the laws of the one colony as 
by those of the other. 

But herein they soon discovered them- 
selves to be in an error, and to differ widely 
in sentiment from their more astute neigh- 
bors. Men learned in the law and of high 
station in New York had m.ade it appea?, 
that jurisdiction meant the same thing ae-'- 
right of property ; and since his Majesty had 
decided Connecticut River to be the eastern 
limit of that province, the governor and coun- 
cil decreed, that all the lands west of the 

7 



98 MEMOIR OF 

said river appertained to JN'ew York, howev- 
er long thej might have been in possession 
of actual occupants. This was a strange 
doctrine to men, who had paid their money 
for the lands, and bj their own toil added 
ten-fold or a hundred-fold to their value ; 
who had felled the forests by the strength of 
their sinews, and submitted for years to all 
the privations and discomforts of the woods- 
man's life. In a tone of just indignation 
they said to these new masters, we will o- 
bey your laws, but you shall not plunder us 
of the substance we have gained by the 
sweat of our brows. The New York gov- 
ernment, however, in conformity with their 
interpretation of the royal decree, proceed- 
ed to grant patents covering the lands on 
which farms had been brought to an ad- 
vanced state of culture, houses built, and 
orchards planted, by the original purchasers 
and settlers. It is true that to all such per- 
sons was granted the privilege of taking out 
new patents, and securing a New York ti- 
tle, by paying the fees and other charges, 
which were greatly enhanced upon those paid 
at first to Governor Wentworth ; that is, in 
other words, they were allowed the right of 
purchasing their own property. This was 
a proposition perfectly comprehensible to 
the most iUiterate husbandman . With a ve- 



ETHAN ALLEK. 99 

rj few exceptions they refused to comply 
with it, alleging that they had bought their 
lands by a fair purchase, and had a just 
claim to a title, under whatever jurisdiction 
the King might think proper to place them ; 
that it was not their business to interfere 
with the controversies of the colonies about 
their respective boundaries, but it was their 
duty, and their determination, to retain and 
defend their lawful property. The case 
was aggravated by an order of the governor 
and council of New York, calhng on all the 
claimants under the New Hampshire grants 
to appear before them, the said governor 
and council, with the deeds, conveyances, . 
and other evidences of their claims, within 
three months, and declaring that the claims 
of all persons not presented within that time 
should be rejected. This had no effect up- 
on the settlers, and of course their titles 
w^ere looked upon as forfeited, and the lands 
they occupied as being the property of the 
colony of New York. 

It would seem, that certain speculators 
entered deeply into the affair, influenced 
more by the literal construction or ambiguous 
meaning of charters and royal decrees, than 
by the power of the settlers to support their 
claims, or the absolute justice of their cause. 
Hence repeated applications for large grants 



100 MEMOIR OF 

■were made to tlie governor, which he was 
nowise inclined to refuse, since every new 
patent was attended with a liberal fee to 
himself. Foreseeing the mischiefs, that 
would result to them from this growing com- 
bination of powerful and interested individu- 
als in New York, the settlers despatched 
one of their number to England as an agent 
in their behalf, instructed to lay their case 
before the King, and petition for relief. 
This mission was successful, so far as to ob- 
tain an order from the King in Council, Ju- 
ly, 1767, commanding the governor of New 
York to abstain from issuing any more pa- 
tents in the disputed territory, '' upon pain 
of his Majesty's highest displeasure," till 
the intentions of the King on the subject 
should further be made known. 

This decision, having only a prospective 
effect, did not annul the grants already be- 
stowed, and the New York patentees resolv- 
ed to gain possession of the lands by[civil pro- 
cess. Writs of ejectment were taken out, 
and served on several actual occupants. In 
a few instances the officers were resisted by 
the people, and prevented from serving the 
writs ; but, for the most part, the New Hamp- 
shire grantees inclined to meet their oppo- 
nents on this ground, and refer the matter 
to a judicial tribunal. Ethan Allen, having 



ETHAN ALLEN. 101 

already become a leader among them, by his 
zeal in opposing the New York party and by 
the boldness of his character, was appointed 
an agent to manage the concerns of the de- 
fendants before the court at Albany, to 
which the writs of ejectment had been re- 
turned. His first step was to proceed to 
New Hampshire, and obtain copies of Grov- 
ernor Wentworth's commission and instruc- 
tions, by which he was authorized to grant 
the lands. He next went to Connecticut, 
and engaged the services of Mr. Ingersoll, 
an emiinent counsellor of that day. When 
the time of trial arrived, these gentlemen ap- 
peared in Albany, and produced to the court 
the above papers, and also the original par 
tents or grants ta those persons on whom 
the writs of ejectment had been served. 
These papers were at once set aside, as hav- 
ing no weight in the case, since they pre- 
supposed that the boundary of New Hamp- 
shire reached to the west of Connecticut 
River, a point not to be admitted by any 
New York court or jury. The verdict was 
of course given for the plaintiffs. Indeed 
the whole process was an idle piece of for- 
mality. It being the theoretical and prao 
tical doctrine of the New York government, 
that all Governor Wentworth's grants were 
illegal, and many of the judges and lawyers 



102 MEMOIR OF 

being personally interested in the subsequent 
New York patents, a decision adverse to 
their declared opinion of the law, and to 
their private interests, was not to be expect- 
ed. This was soon perceived by the peo- 
ple of the New Hampshire Grants, and no 
one of them again appeared in court, though 
sundry other cases of ejectment were brought 
up, and decided against the occupants. As 
all their grants stood on precisely the same 
footing, a precedent in one case would ne- 
cessarily be followed in the other. 

It is recorded, that after Allen retired 
from the court at Albany, two or three gen- 
tlemen interested in the New York grants 
called upon him, one of whom was the King's 
attorney-general for the colony, and advised 
him to go home and persuade his friends of 
the Green Mountains to make the best terms 
they could with their new landlords, intima- 
ting that their cause was now desperate, and 
reminding him of the proverb, that" " might 
often prevails against rights Neither ad- 
miring the delicacy of this sentiment, nor 
intimidated by the threat it held out, Allen 
replied, " TJie gods of the valleys are not 
the gods of the hills. ''^ This laconic figure 
of speech he left to be interpreted by his vis- 
itors, adding only, when an explanation was 
asked by the King's attorney, that if he 



ETriAN ALLEN. 108 

would accompany him to Bennington the 
sense should be made clear. 

The purpose of his mission being thus 
brought to a close, Mr. Allen returned and 
reported the particulars to his constituents. 
The news spread from habitation to habita- 
tion, and created a sudden and loud mur- 
mur of discontent am_ong the people. See- 
ing, as they thought, the door of justice shut 
against them, and having tried in vain all 
the peaceable means of securing their rights, 
they resolved to appeal to the last arbiter of 
disputes. The inhabitants of Bennington 
immediately assemble-:!, and came to a form- 
al determination to defend their property by 
force, and to unite in resisting all encroaoii- 
riients upon the lands occupied by persons 
holding titles under the warrants granted 
by the Governor of New Hampshire. This 
was a bold step ; but it was promptly taken, 
and with a seeming determination to adhere 
to it at any hazard, and without regard to 
consequences. Nor was this decision chang- 
ed or weakened by a proposition on the part 
of the New York patentees, made about this 
time, which allowed to each occupant a fee 
simple of his farm, at the same price for which 
the unoccupied lands in his neighborhood 
were sold. The first purchasers still insisted 
that this was requiring them to pay twice 



104 MEMOIB OP 

for their lands, and tliat in any view the pro- 
posal was not just, inasmuch as the value of 
the unoccupied lands depended mainly on 
the settlements, which had been made in 
their vicinity by the toil and at the expense 
of the original occupants. In short, the 
time for talking about charters and bounda« 
lies, and courts of judicature was past, and 
the mountaineers were now fully bent onjcon- 
ducting the controversy by a more summary 
process. The wisdom or equity of this deci- 
sion I shall forbear to discuss, and proceed 
to narrate some of its consequences. 

Actions of ejectment continued to be 
brought before the Albany courts ; but the 
settlers, despairing of success after the pre- 
cedents of the jBrst cases, did not appear in 
defence, nor give themselves any more trou- 
])le in the matter. Next came sheriffs and 
civil magistrates to execute the writs of pos- 
session, and by due course of law to remove 
the occupants from the lands. At this cri- 
sis the affair assumed a tangible shape. The 
mountaineers felt themselves at home on the 
soil, which they had subdued by their own 
labor, and in the territory over which they 
had begun to exercise supreme dominion, 
by meeting in conventions and committees, 
ajad taking counsel of each other on pubHc 
oonceras. To drive one of them from his 



ETHAN ALLEN. 105 

Eouee, or deprive him of his hard-earned sub- 
stance, was to threaten the whole communi- 
ty with an issue fatal alike to their dearest 
interests, and to the rights, which every man 
deems as sacred as hfe itself. It was no 
wonder, therefore, that they should unite in 
a common cause, which it required their 
combined efforts to maintain. 

As it was expected the sheriffs would soon 
make their appearance, precautions were ta- 
ken to watch their motions, and give due 
notice of their approach. In the first in- 
stance, when the sheriff arrived at the hou^, 
on the owner of which he was to serve a "writ 
of possession, he found it surrounded by a 
body of men, who resisted his attempts, and 
defeated his purpose. Complaints were sent 
to Lord Dunmore, then governor of New 
York, accompanied with the names of the 
leaders of tliis " riotous and tumultuous" as- 
semblage ; and the governor forthwith pub- 
lished a proclamation on the 1st day of No- 
vember, 1770, denouncing this presumptu- 
ous act, and commanding the sheriff of Al- 
bany county to apprehend the offenders, 
whose names had' been mentioned, and com- 
mit them to safe custody, that they might 
be brought to condign punishment ; author- 
izing him to call to his assistance the posse 
Qomitaius^ or the whole power of the county. 



^^ 



106 MEMOIR OF 

But proclamations were of as little avail as 
writs of possession ; and the sheriff was nev- 
er lucky enough to seize an}^ of the rioters, 
who doubtless had the forethought to keep 
out of his reach. 

The next exploit was at the house of James 
Brackenridge, whose farm was within the 
township of Bennington, and on whom the 
sheriff came to serve a writ. The house was 
filled with armed men, who treated this civ- 
il officer with much disrespect, and set his 
authority at naught. A few days after- 
wards he returned with a posse, such as he 
could collect for the purpose ; but in this in- 
stance he was again repelled hj a still more 
numerous party armed with muskets, which 
they presented at the breasts of the sheriff 
and his associates, and exhibited other atti- 
tudes of menace and contempt, against which 
these pacific messengers, armed only with 
the mandates and terrors of the law, did not 
think it prudent to contend. The rioters, 
as they were called, and perhaps by no ve- 
ry forced construction of language, came off 
a second time triumphant ; and thus the bold- 
ness of their resolutions received a new in- 
citement. These examples, however, did 
not deter the ci>vil officers from endeavoring 
to discharge their duty. They appeared in 
other places, and in one or two instances 



ETHAN ALLEN. . 107 

with success ; but they could not evade the 
vigilance of the people, who kept a watchful 
eye upon their movements, and who, when 
they caught the intruders, resorted to a 
mode of pimishment less perilous than that 
with powder and ball, but attended with 
scarcely less indignity, to the unfortunate 
sufferers. This summary process was de- 
nominated chastisement with the twigs of 
the wildernesSy a phraseology too significant 
to need explanation. 

As open war now existed, and hostihtie& 
had commenced, the G-reen 3Ioimtain Boys^ 
as the belligerents were denominajted,thought 
it advisable to organize their forces, and 
prepare for the contest, in a manner worthy 
of the cause at stake. In all the feats of 
enterprise and danger, as well as in matters 
of state policy, Ethan Allen had hitherto 
been the chief adviser and actor. It was 
natural, that, in arranging their mihtary es- 
tablishment, the people should look up to 
him as the person best qualified to be placed 
at its head. He was appointed colonel- 
commandant, with several captains under 
him, of whom the most noted were Seth 
Warner and Remember Baker. Commit- 
tees of safety were likewise chosen, and in- 
trusted with powers for regulating local af- 
fairs. Conventions of delegates, represent- 



108 MEMOIE OP 

ing the people, assembled from time to time 
and passed resolves and adopted measures, 
which tended to harmonize their sentiments 
and concentrate their efforts. 

Thus prepared and supported, Colonel 
Allen, with a promptness and activity suited 
to his character, drew out his volunteers in 
larger or smaller numbers, as the exigency 
of the case required, and either in person, 
or by the agency of his captains, presented 
a formidable force to the sheriffs and consta- 
bles wherever they appeared within the - lim- 
its of the New Hampshire Grants. The 
convention had decreed, that no officer from 
New York should attempt to take any per- 
son out of their territory on the penalty of a 
severe punishment ; and it was also forbid- 
den, that any surveyor should presume to 
run lines through the lands, or inspect them 
with that intention. This edict enlarged the 
powers of the military commanders ; for it 
was their duty to search out such intruders, 
and chastise them according to the nature 
of their offence. A few straggling settlers, 
claiming titles under New York grants, had 
ventured over the line of demarkation. 
These were forcibly dispossessed by detach- 
ments of Colonel Allen's men, frequently 
led on by him in person. The sheriffs and 
iheir posse comitatus continued to be pursu- 



ETHAN ALLEl?. 109 

ed with unremitting eagerness, whenever 
they dared to set their feet on the forbidden 
ground. With these various affairs on his 
hands, it will readily be imagined that the 
commander of the Green Mountain Boys 
was not idle ; nor was it surprising, that he 
should attract the particular notice of the 
New York government. So many com- 
plaints were made of the riotous and disor- 
derly proceedings of his volunteers and as- 
sociates, such was the indignation of the 
New York party on account of the harsh 
measures adopted by them towards the per- 
sons whom they seized as trespassers upon 
their property, and so entirely did they set 
at defiance the laws of New York, to which 
their opponents accounted them amenable, 
that the governor was tempted to try the 
virtue of another proclamation, in which he 
branded the deed of dispossessing a New 
York settler with the approbrious name of 
felony, and offered a reward of twenty 
pounds to any person, who would apprehend 
and secure Allen, or either of eight other 
persons connected with him, and mentioned 
by name. 

Whether this proclamation was thought 
too mild in its terms, or whether new^ outrar 
ges had added to the enormity of the offenco, 
it is not easy to decide ; but another was 



110 MEMOIR OF 

promulgated, enlarging the bounty for Allen 
to one hundred and fifty pounds, and for 
Seth Warner and five others to fifty pounds 
each. 'Not to be outdone by the author- 
ity of New York in exercising the prerog- 
atives of sovereignty. Colonel Allen and 
his friends sent out a counter proclamation, 
offering a reward of five pounds to any per- 
son, who would take and deliver the attor- 
ney-general of that colony to any officer in 
the military association of the Green Moun- 
tain Boys ; the said attorney having render- 
ed himself particularly obnoxious to the set- 
tlers, by the zeal andpertinacity with which 
he had entered into the contest against 
them.* Notwithstanding the frequency of 
proclamations, it is believed that no person 
was apprehended in consequence of them, 
which is a proof that the people of the parts 
of New York adjoining the New Hampshire 
Grants were more favorable to the settlers, 
than were prominent men of the colony ; 
otherwise the allurement of the reward 
would have induced combinations for seizing 
individual offenders, particularly as the peo- 
ple were required by law to assist the sher- 
iff in the execution of his office. Allen 
never denied, that the conduct of himself and 
his mountaineers, interpreted by the laws of 

■^ Ii-a Allen's Historic of Verjiwnt, p, 29. 



ETHAN ALLEN. Ill 

New York, or the laws of any well ordered 
society, was properly called riotous ; but he 
contended, that they were driven to this ex- 
tremity by the o|)pression of their stronger 
neighbors, that no other means were left by 
which they could defend their property, and 
that under such circumstances they were 
perfectly justified in resorting to these means. 
They encroached not upon the possessions 
of other people, they remained on their own 
soil, and, if riots existed, they were caused 
by those who came among them for molest- 
ation and injury. Viewing things in this 
light, he thought it hard, and with reason, 
that he should first be called a rioter, then 
a criminal rioter, and last of all be denounc- 
ed to the world as a felon, with a price set 
upon his liberty, and threats of condign pun- 
ishment if he should be taken. 

But he was equally regardless of threats, 
and faithful in executing the charge reposed 
in him by his associates. Afiairs had now 
been brought to such a stage, that it was 
the fixed determination of the settlers at all 
hazards to maintain their ground by expel- 
ling every person, who should presume" to 
approach their territory under the auspices of 
the New York claimants.. An incident oc- 
curred, which indicated the temper and spir- 
it of the people. News came to Benning- 



112 M.EMOni OF 

ton, that Governor TryoB was ascending the 
North Kiver with a body of British troops, 
who were on their way to subdue the refrac- 
tory Green Mountain Boys, and to quell the 
disputes by an overwhelming force. This 
report at first produced alarm. The Com- 
mittee of Safety and the military officers 
held a consultation. Their perilous situation 
was viewed in all its aspects, and it was fi- 
nally resolved, that, considering the mea- 
sures they had already pursued, and that 
their vitd mterests required a perseverance 
in the same, " it was their duty to oppose 
Governor Tryon and his troops to the utmost 
of their power." They immediately pro- 
ceeded to devise a plan of operations, by 
which a few sharp-shooters were to be sta- 
tioned in a narrow pass on the road leading 
to Bennington, who were to lie concealed 
and shoot down the officers as they approach- 
ed with the troops. These same marksman 
were then to hasten forward through the 
woods, and join another party of their com- 
rades at a similar position, where they were 
to exercise their tmerring skill with their ri- 
fles, and then retreat to the main body, who 
would be prepared to receive the invading 
troops, much disordered and dispirited as it 
was supposed they would be by the loss of 
officers. Colonel Allen despatched a trusty 



ETHAN ALLEN, 113 

person to Albany, with instructions to await 
the arrival of Governor Trjon's army, to 
take particular note of the officers, that he 
might know them again, and to ascertain all 
that he could as to the numbers of the ene- 
my, the time of marching, and other useful 
intelligence. The messenger returned with 
the information, that the troops were wind- 
bound down the river, that they were des- 
tined for the posts on the Lakes, and had 
no designs upon Bennington. Although the 
people were thus relieved from the necessi- 
ty of putting their valor to the test, yet their 
prompt and bold preparation for the onset 
was a pledge, that in no event could it have 
terminated to tbeir dishonor. 

Affairs were proceeding in this train of 
civil commotion and active hostilities, when 
Governor Tryon, in a spirit of candor and 
forbearance hardly to have been expected at 
that crisis, wrote a letter to the inhabitants 
of Bennington and the adjacent country, dat- 
ed on the 19th of May, 1772, censuring the 
illegality and violence of their conduct, but 
at the same time expressing a desire to do 
them justice, and inviting them to send a 
deputation of such persons as they might 
choose, who should lay before him a full 
state of their grievances, and the causes of 
their complaints. To any deputies thwis sent 



114 MEMOIR 0¥ 

he promised security and protection, except- 
ing Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and three 
l^others, ivho had been named in his proclama- 
tion as offenders against the laws, and for ap- 
prehending whom a reward had been offered. 
On receiving this letter the people of Ben- 
nington and the neighboring towns assem- 
bled bj their committees, took the subject in- 
to consideration, and without delay acceded 
to the proposal. They appointed two dele- 
gates, Stephen Fay and Jonas Fay, to re- 
pair to New York, and wrote a letter in an- 
swer to Governor Tryon's, briefly setting 
forth the grounds of their discontent and the 
reasons of their conduct, and referring to 
their agents for particular explanations. 
From the style and tone of the letter, it was 
obviously penned by Ethan Allen. 

Neither was the opportunity to be passed 
over, by Allen, and his proscribed friends, 
of vindicating themselves against the asper- 
sions caat upon them by their enemies, and 
the stigma of being pointed out to the world 
as rioters, abettors of mobs, and felons. — 
They sent a joint despatch to Governor Try- 
on, in the nature of a protest against the 
treatment they had received, and in justifi- 
cation of their motives and acts. Allen was 
again the penman for his brethren, and con- 
sidering their provocations, and the degree 



ETHAN ALLEN. 115 

of excitement to which tliej had been wrought 
^ up, their remonstrance was clothed in lan- 
guage sufficiently respectful, breathing the 
spirit of men conscious of their dignity, and 
resolute in the defence of their rights, but 
..ready to meet the awards of justice and a- 
bide by the decision of a fair and impartial 
'"tribunal. Some of their arguments are put 
' in a forcible manner. "If we do not op- 
pose the sheriff and his ^osse," say they, 
'* he takes immediate possession of our houses 
and farms ; and when others oppose officers 
in taking their friends so indicted, they are 
also indicted, and so on, there being no end 
of indictment against us so long as we act 
the bold and manly part and stand by our 
liberty. And it comes to this at last, that 
we must tamely be dispossessed, or oppose 
officers in taking possession, and, as a next 
necessary step, to oppose the taking of riot- 
ers, so called, or run away like so many cow- 
ards and quit the country to a number of 
cringing, polite gentlemen, who have ideal- 
ly possessed themselves of it already." 

Again ; "• Though they style us rioters 

for opposing them, and seek to catch and 

punish us as such, yet in reahty themselves 

are the rioters, the tumultuous, disorderly, 

//stimulating faction, or in fine the land-job- 

iS^. bers ; and every violent act they have done 



116 MEMOIR OF 

to compass their designs, though ever so 
much under pretence of law, is in reality a 
violation of law, and an insult to the consti- 
ijUtion and authority of the Crown, as well 
as to many of us in person, who have been 
great sufferers by such inhuman exertions of 
pretended law. Right and wrong are eter- 
nally the same to all periods of time, places, 
and nations ; and coloring a crime with a 
specious pretence of law only adds to the 
criminality of it, for it subverts the very de- 
sign of law, prostituting it to the vilest pur- 
poses."* 

These statements embraced the substance 
of their defence, considered in its theory and 
principles, although they were strengthened 
by a series of collateral facts and a combi- 
nation of particulars, which were all made 
to assume a bearing favorable to the gener- 
al cause. Governor Tryon received the 
deputies with affability and kindness, list- 
ened to their representations, and laid the 
matter of their grievances before his coun- 
cil. After due deliberation the council re- 
ported to the governor, that they wished him 
to give the people of the New Hampshire 
Grants all the rehef in hi^ power, and re- 
commended that the prosecutions, on ac. 

* Ethan Allen's Brief Narrative of the Proceedings of 
th<i Government of New York^^c. pp. 58, 62. 



ETHAN ALLEN. 117 

count of crimes with which they were charg- 
ed, should cease till his Majesty's pleasure 
could be ascertained, and that the New York 
grantees should be requested till such time 
to put a stop to civil suits respecting the 
lands in controversy. This vote of the coun- 
cil was approved by the governor, and with 
this intelligence the deputies hastened back 
to their constituents, who hailed them as 
the messengers of peace and joy. They had 
never asked for more than was implied by 
these terms, being well persuaded, that, how- 
ever the question of jurisdiction might be set- 
tled, the King would never sanction a course 
of proceeding, which should deprive them of 
their property. The impulse of gladness 
spread quickly to the cabins of the remotest 
settlers ; a meeting of the people was called 
at Bennington, where a large concourse as- 
sembled ; the minutes of the council and the 
governor's approval were read, and applaud- 
ed with loud acclamations, and for the mo- 
ment the memory of all former griefs was 
swept -away in the overflowing tide of enthu- 
siasm for Governor Tryon. The single can- 
non, constituting the whole artillery of Colo- 
nel Allen's regimerit,was drawn out and dis- 
charged several times in honor of the occa- 
sion ; and Captain Warner's company of 
Green Mountain Boys, paraded in battle ar- 



118 MEMOIR OF 

ray 5 fired three volleys with small arms ; the 
surrounding multiudes at the same time an- 
swering each discharge with huzzas, and ev- 
ery demonstration of delight. It was ac- 
counted a day of triumph to the heroes of 
Bennington, and a harbinger of tranquilhty 
to the settlers, who had hitherto been har- 
assed by the incessant tumults of the pres- 
ent, or the vexatious uncertainty of the fu- 
ture. 

But unluckily this season of rejoicing was 
of short duration. It was inde ed premature ; 
for although the terms brought back by the 
commissioners held out an appearance of re- 
conciliation, yet the seeds of mischief were 
not eradicated, and they immediately began 
to spring up with their former vigor. The 
conciliatory resolve of the governor and coun- 
cil moreover contained an ambiguity, which 
seemed at first to escape the notice of the 
people, in the excess of their hilarity. The 
JSTew York grantees were desired to cease 
from prosecuting any more civil suits, till 
the King's pleasure should be known ; but 
nothing was said about putting in execution 
the suits already decided in their favor, and 
no prohibition intimated against their taking 
possession of lands claimed in consequence 
of such decisions, or sending surveyors ta 
fix boundaries and loeahties. Hence it is 



ETHAN ALLES. 119 

oljvious, that all the actual sources of dis- 
sension and tumult remained in their full 
force. 

It was unfortunate, that an example occur- 
red while the negotiation was pending. Soon 
after the commissioners set off for Ne\Y York, 
intelligence was brought to Be'nningtonjthat 
a noted surveyor, employed by the New 
York claimants, had found his way into some 
of the border townships, and was busy in run- 
ning out lands. A small party rallied, with 
Colonel Allen at their head, ^ent in pursuit 
of the surveyor, fell upon hm track in the 
woods, overtook and seized him, intending 
to punish him in a manner suited t^o their 
ideas of the audaciousness of his offence. 
They broke his instruments, examined and 
tried him before a court organized accord- 
ing to their manner, found him guilty, and 
passed sentence of banishment, threatening 
the penalty of death, should he ever again 
be caught within the limits of the interdict- 
ed territory. At this juncture they heard 
of the success of the mission to New York, 
which occasioned them to dismiss the sui*- 
veyor without personal injury, and to re- 
scind their harsh sentence. 

During this expedition Colonel Allen and 
his party also dispossessed the tenants of an 
intruder, near the mouth of Otter Creek, 



120 MEMOIR OF ^ 

where, under the shield of a !N'e^y York ti- 
tle, he had taken a saw-mill and other prop- 
erty from the original settlers, and appro- 
priated them to himself, adding tenements 
and improvements for his laborers. Colo- 
nel Allen expelled the tenants, burnt their 
habitations, restored the saw-mill to its first 
owner, and broke the millstones of a grist- 
mill, which he could not bm^n without en- 
dangering the saw-mill. 

The fame of these exploits travelled with 
speed to New York, and kindled the anger 
of Governor Trj? on and the members of his 
council. The Governor wrote a letter of 
sharp rebuke to the inhabitants^ofthe Grants ^ 
complaining of this conduct as an insult to 
government, and a violation of public faith. 
This letter was taken into consideration by 
the committees of several townships assem- 
bled at Manchester, who voted to return an 
answer, which was drafted by Ethan Allen, 
secretary to tlie convention. In regard to 
the prominent points, Mr.. Allen argued in 
behalf of his associates, that the public faith 
was not plighted ontheir part, till after the rat- 
ification at Bennington of the terms brought 
back by their commissioners, and that the 
transactions so severely censured took place 
previously to that event. If there was any 
breach of faith in the case, it was declared 



ETBAS ALLEN. 121 

to liave been on the part of the land-jobbers 
in New York, who sent a surveyor into the 
disjDuted domain, while the commissioners 
were negotiating for a reconcilement of dif- 
ferences. As to putting the intruders at 
Otter Creek again into possession, which the 
governor had demanded in a somewhat per- 
emptory manner, they declined doing it, as- 
signing as a reason that those persons were 
justly removed, and that the governor could 
not fail to be of the same opinion when duly 
informed of facts. The assembled commit- 
tees moreover declared explicitly, that, by 
the terms of reconciliation, tliey did not ex- 
pect any settlements or locations would be 
attempted on the lands in question, till his 
Majesty's pleasure should be known. If 
such were not the meaning and intent of the 
governor, in the proposal he had sent by the 
commissioners, then their act of ratification 
was a nullity. 

To put the matter on this footing was at 
once to revive all the old difficulties ; for the 
governor had no power to stop the course of 
law, by prohibiting those persons from ta- 
king possession of their lands, who had been 
confirmed in their claims by the regular de- 
cisions of the courts. All such claimants, 
and agents acting in their behalf, the settlers 
had determined to resist by force, and had 



122 MEMOIR OF 

given practical proofs of their resolution-, 
which were not to be nnstaken. They had 
also resolved to pursue, expel, or otherwise 
punish any person within the disputed dis- 
trict, who should presume to accept an office 
civil or mihtary under the authority of New 
York. Like the tories of the Revolution, 
these people were considered as the worst 
kind of enemies, and treated with uncom- 
mon seventy. In an unlucky hour, two or 
three of them accepted from Governor Try- 
on commissions of justices of the peace, and 
had the hardihood to act in their official dig- 
nity. The indignation and wrath of the 
Green Mountain Boys were roused. In one 
instance the unhappy delinquent was brought 
before the 'Committee of Safety, where the 
resolve of the convention was read to him, 
forbidding any one in the territory to hold 
an office under the colony of JSTew York ; 
and then judgment was pronounced against 
him, in the presence of many persons, by 
which he was sentenced to be tied to a tree, 
and chastised " with the twigs of the wilder- 
'nes'* on his naked back, to the number of 
;two hundred stripes, and immediately ex- 
spelled from tlie district, and threatened with 
deatli if he should return, unless specially 
permitted by the Convention. 

In the midst of these rigors, tlie mode of 



ETHAN ALLEN. 123 

punishment was sometimes rather ludicrous 
than severe. In the town of Arhngton lived 
a doctor, who openly professed himself a par- 
tisan of New York, and was accustomed to 
speak disrespectfully of the convention and 
committees, espousing the cause of the New 
York claimants, and advising people to pur- 
chase lands under their title. He was ad- 
monished by his neighbors, and made to un- 
derstand, that this tone of conversation was 
not acceptable, and was requested to change 
it, or at least to show his prudence by re- 
maining silent. Far from operating any re- 
form, these hints only stirred up the ire of 
the courageous doctor, who forthwith armed 
himself with pistols and other weapons of de- 
fence, proclaiming his sentiments more bold- 
ly than ever, setting opposition at defiance, 
and threatening to try the full eifects of his 
personal prowess and implements of warfare 
on any man, who should have the temerity 
to approach him with un unfriendly design. 
Such a boast was likely to call up the mar- 
tial spirit of his opponents, who accordingly 
came upon the doctor at an unguarded mo- 
ment, and obliged him to surrender at dis- 
cretion. He was thence transferred to the 
Green Mountain Tavern, in Benmngton, 
where he was arraigned before the commit- 
tee, who, not satisfied with his defence, sen- 



124 MEMOIR OF 

tenced him to a novel punishment, which 
thej ordered to be put in immediate execu- 
tion. 

Before the door of this tavern, which serv- 
ed the double purpose of a court-house and 
an inn, stood a sign-post twentj-five feet high, 
and the top of which was adorned with the 
skin of a catamount, stuffed to the size of 
life, with its head turned towards New York, 
and its jaws distended, showing large naked- 
teeth, and grinning terror to all who should 
approach from that quarter. It was the 
judgment of the court, that the contumacious 
doctor should be tied in a chair, and drawn 
up by a rope to the catamount, where he 
was to remain suspended two hours ; which 
punishment was inflicted, in the presence of 
a numerous assemblage of people, much to 
their satisfaction and merriment. The doc- 
tor was then let down, and permitted to de- 
part to his own house. 

On two or three occasions Colonel Allen 
Avas near being taken, in consequence of the 
rewards offered for him in the governor's 
proclamations. When he made excursions 
abroad, whether for military or other pur- 
poses, he commonly went armed with a mus- 
ket and a brace of pistols. Being on a tour 
to the north, in company wi^h a single friend, 
he on© evening entered a house not niany 



ETHAN ALLEJJ-. 125 

miles from Crown Point, in which, to his sur- 
j)rise and after it was too late to retreat, he 
found there were two sergeants and ten 
men. He was known to the sergeants, and 
soon had reason to suspect, that they intend- 
ed to seize him. Putting the best face up- 
on the matter, however, and concealing his 
suspicions, he called for supper, conversed 
in great good humor with the sergeants, ask- 
ed them to drink with him, and the evening 
passed away merrily till bed-time. It then 
appeared, that there were no spare beds in 
the house, as they had all been taken by the 
jBrst comers ; but .these persons very civilly 
pi'oposed to yield their claims to Colonel Al- 
len, and pressed him with a show of earnest- 
ness to accept their offer. He declined it, 
with thanks for their courtesy, declaring that 
he could not think of depriving them of their 
rest merely for his personal accommodation, 
and that, as the weather was warm, he and 
his companion would seek lodgings in the 
barn. To hide their real design they left 
their guns behind. The sergeants accom- 
panied them to the bam, saw them safely in 
their quarters, wished them a good night's 
repose, and returned to the house. By a 
previous concert, a young girl in the family 
took the first opportunity unseen to carry 
the guns to the barn. The sergeants wait- 



«*?y 



126 MEMOIR OF 

ed till they supposed the two travellers were- 
asleep, and that there would be no danger 
from their pistols, and then stole softly out, 
flushed with the prospect of speedily entrap- 
ping^the renowned leader of the Green Moun- 
tain Boys. But their imaginary victory 
ended in disappointment. Colonel Allen, 
having succeeded in his scheme of deceiv- 
ing his pursuers, had arisen and departed, 
and the night screened him from the search. 

At another time, while he was on a visit 
to his brother m Salisbury, Connecticut, a 
plot was laid by several persons, residing be- 
tween that place and Hudson's River, to 
come upon him by surprise, seize, and car- 
ry him to Poughkeepsie jail. This plot was 
accidentally discovered in time ta defeat the 
designs of the conspirators. 

Meantime the spirit of hostihty between 
the two parties continued to increase, the 
New York claimants being resolved to en- 
force their claims by all the power they could 
put in action, and the original settlei-s e- 
qually determined to resist aggression by ev- 
ery species of force, which they could wield. 
Hence commotions, riots, mobs, and blood- 
shed were common occurrences, though the 
settlers adhered strictly to their declared 
principle of acting on the defensive, never 
pursuing offenders beyond their own do- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 127 

main, but showing little mercy to those, who 
dared to violate their decrees, question their 
authority, and above all to step over the line 
of demarkation as the agents of their ene- 
mies. At last the New York grantees, dis- 
couraged with this mode of conducting so 
fruitless a contest, combined their influence, 
and applied to the Assembly of that prov- 
ince for legislative aid. The result was a 
law, purporting to be an act for preventing 
tumultuous and riotous assemblies, and pun- 
ishing rioters, which may safely be pronounc- 
ed the most extraordinary specimen of legis- 
lative despotism, that has ever found a place 
in a statute-book. After naming Ethan Al- 
len, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, and 
several others, as the principal ringleaders 
in the riots, the law empowers the governor 
and council to send out an order, requiring 
those persons, or any others indicted for o? 
fences, to surrender themselves for commit- 
ment to one of his Majesty's justices of the 
peace within seventy days from the date of 
the order ; and in case the summons should 
not be obeyed, the person neglecting to sur- 
render himself was to be adjudged and 
deemed as convicted, and to sutler death if 
indicted for a capital oifence ; and moreover 
the Supreme Court was authorized to award 
^^ecution, in the same manner as if there 



128 MEMOIR OP 

had been an actual trial, proof of guilt, and 
a. judicial sentence.* 

On the same day that this law was enact- 
ed, the governor sent out another proclama- 
tion, offering a reward for apprehending and 
imprisoning Ethan Allen and seven of his 
associates, as if never tired of exercising 
this prerogative of his office, although hith- 
erto without the least shadow of success. 
The object of the law and of the proclama- 
tion was to draw from their strong-holds the 
principal rioters, as they were called, and 
inflict upon them such punishments as would 
quell their opposition, and dishearten their 
followers. The effect was far otherwise. 
The committees of the several townships as- 
sembled in convention, and took up the sub- 
ject with more calmness, than could have 
been anticipated under circumstances so ir- 
ritating. They reviewed the causes of the 
controversy, asserted anew their rights, af- 
firmed that they were not the aggressors, 
that all the violence to which they had been 
accessory was fully justified by the laws of 
self-preservation, and that they were deter- 
mined to maintain the ground they had ta- 

^ This act, certainly one of the most curious in the 
annals of legislation, was passed on the 9th of March, 
1774, and may be seen in Ethan Allen's Narrative of 
the Proceediricjs of the Government of New York^ &c.,p. 
23. And also in Blade's Vermont State Papers, p. 42. 



ETHAN ALLEN. 129 

^en, "withoiit fear or favor, at every hazard 
and every sacrifice. They closed their pub- 
lic proceedings by a resolve, that all" neces- 
sary preparations should be made, and that 
the inhabitants should hold themselves in 
readiness at a minute's vraming to defend 
those among them, " who, for their merit in 
the great and general cause, had been false- 
ly denominated rioters ;" declaring at the 
sam@ time, that they would act only on the 
defensive, and that in all civil cases, and 
criminal prosecutions really si^h, they would 
assist the proper officers to enforce the exe- 
cution of the laws. 

In addition to these public doings of the 
people at large by their representatives, the 
proscribed persons, at the head of whom was 
Ethan Allen, published a manifesto, to which 
they jointly affixed their names, containing 
a defence of themselves and free remarks on 
the New York act and proclamation. To 
look for moderation as a shining quality in a 
paper of this kind, is perhaps more than 
would be authorized by the nature of the 
case, or the character of the individuals 
concerned ; yet it expresses sentiments, 
which we should be sorry not to find in men, 
whom we would respect, and in whom we 
would confide in the hour of peril. It speaks 
in a tone of deep complaint of the injuries 

9 



130 MEMOIR OF 

they have suffered from the vindictive pep 
secutions of their enemies, protests against 
the tyrannical abuse of power, which would 
arraign them as criminals for protecting 
their own property, and threatens retalia- 
tion upon all, who should attempt to put in 
execution against them the sanguinary e- 
dict, of the New York Assembly. Eut in 
the midst of the sea of dangers, with which 
they seemed to be surrounded, they braced 
themselves up with the consolatory reflec- 
tion, " that printed sentences of death will 
not kill us ; and if the executioners approach 
us, they mil be as likely to fall victims to 
death as we." They furthermore proclaim- 
ed that, should any person be tempted, by 
the "wages of unrighteousness offered in the 
proclamation," to apprehend any of them 
or their friends, it was their deliberate pur- 
pose to inflict immediate death upon so rash 
and guilty an offender. 

To this pitch of legalized infatuation on 
the one part, and of animosity and violence 
on the other, had the controversy attained 
by imbibing new aliment at every stage, 
when it was suddenly arrested by events of 
vastly greater moment, which drew away 
the attention of the political leaders in New 
York from these border feuds to affairs of 
more vital interest. The revolutionary 



ETHAN ALLEN. 131 

Struggle was on the eve of breaking out, and 
the ferment, which had already begun to ag- 
itate the public mind from one end of the 
continent to the other, was not less active in 
New York than in other places. From this 
time, therefore, the Green Mountain settlers 
were permitted to remain in comparative 
tranquillity. Several years elapsed, it is 
true, before they released themselves entire- 
ly from the claims of their neighbors, and 
established their independence on an undis- 
puted basis ; yet they always acted as an in- 
dependent community, assumed and exer- 
cised the powers of a separate body pohtic, 
and secured at last, to the fullest extent, m.^ 
their original demands and pretensions. S" 9M^ 
than Allen had a large share in bringing the ^ 
contest to its happy termination ; but before M 

•we proceed any further with this subject, it ^ 

is necessary to follow him through a differ- 
ent career, and trace the series of incidentSj 
which befell him in the war of the Revolu- 
tion. 

At this point in our narrative, it is prop- 
er to turn our attention for a moment to a 
literary performance by Ethan Allen, which 
had some influence in its day, and which is 
still valuable for the historical matter it em- 
bodies. Having zealously embarked in the 
cause of the Green Mountain Boys, to which 



16^ MEMOIR OF 

lie was prompted both by interest and -ambi- 
tion, he a;pplied his vigorous mind to a thor- 
ough investigation of the subject. He pur- 
sued his researches into the ancient char- 
ters, followed out their bearings upon each 
other in regard to boundary lines, studied 
the history of the colonies, and thus collect- 
ed a mass of authentic materials, which, 
with an account of recent events known to 
him personally, he compiled into a volume 
extending to more than two hundred pages. 
He, who in this work shall expect to find 
flowers of rhetoric, or a polished diction, or 
models of grammatical accuracy, or the art 
of a practised writer, will be disappomted ; 
but, clothed in the garb of an unformed style 
and confused ;method, there are many saga- 
cious remarks and pertinent expressions, 
many strong points of argum.ent stated with 
force, if not with elegance, many evidences 
of a mind accustomed to observe and think, 
draw its own inferences, and utter its senti- 
ments with a fearless reliance on its own re- 
sources and guidance.* 

'^ The work is entitled A Brief Narrative of the Pro- 
ceedingsofthe Government of Neiv York, ^t., printed at 
Hartford, 1774. The supplementary part contains a 
reply to a pamphlet published a short time before in 
New York, by antliority, entitled A State of the Right 
of the Colony of New York, with Respect to its Eastern 
Boundary, ^'c. It is hardly necessary to obserrej tliat 



ETHAN ALLEN. 133 

Early in the year 1775, as soon as it was 
made manifest by the attitude assumed on 
the part of the British government agaifisij 
the colonies, and by the conduct of General 
Gage in Boston, that open hostilities must 
inevitably commence in a short time, it be- 
gan to be secretly whispered among the prin- 
cipal politicians in New England, that the 
capture of Ticonderoga was an object de- 
manding the first attention. In the month 
of March, Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph 
Warren, as members of the Committee of 
Correspondence in Boston, sent an agent 
privately into Canada, on a pohtical mission, 
with instructions to ascertain the feelings of 
the people there in regard to the approach- 
ing contest, and to make such reports as his 
observations should warrant. Faithful to his 
charge, and vigilant in his inquiries, this a- 
gent sent back intelligence from Montreal, 
and among other things advised, that by all 
means the garrison of Ticonderoga should be 
seized as quickly as possible after the break- 
ing out of hostilities, adding that the people 
of the New Hampshire Grants had already 
agreed to undertake the task, and that they 

the particulars of the present memoir have thus far been 
chiefly derived from these two publications ; to which 
may be added Ira Allen's History of Vermont. 



134 MEMOIR OF 

were tKe most proper persons to be employ- 
ed in it. 

This hint was given three weeks anterior 
to the battle of Lexington, and how far it in- 
fluenced future designs may not be known ; 
but it is certain, that, eight days after that 
event, several gentlernen at that time at- 
tending the Assembly in Hartford, Con- 
necticut, concerted a plan for surprising Ti- 
conderoga, and seizing the cannon in that 
fortress, for the use of the army, then march- 
ing from all quarters to the environs of Bos- 
ton. Although these gentlemen were mem- 
bers of the Assembly, yet the scheme was 
wholly of a private nature, without any o- 
vert sanction from the authority of the colo- 
ny. A committee was appointed, at the 
head of wliich were Edward Mott and No- 
ah Phelps, with instructions to proceed to 
the frontier towns, inquire into the state of 
the garrison, and, should they think proper, 
to raise men and take possession of the same. 
To aid the project, one thousand dollars were 
obtained from the treasury as a loan, for 
which security was given. 

On their way the committee collected six- 
teen men in Connecticut, and went forward 
to Pittsfield, in Massachusetts, where they 
laid open their plan to Colonel Easton and 
Mr. John Brown, who agreed to join them. 



I:T3AN ALLEIf. 135 

and they proceeded in company „to Benning- 
ton. Colonel Easton, being in command of 
a regiment of militia, proposed to engage 
some of them in the expedition, and enlist- 
ed volunteers as he passed along, between 
forty and fifty of whom reached Bennington 
the next day. As no tim.e was to be lost, a 
council of war was immediately called, in 
which it was voted that Colonel Ethan Al- 
len should send out parties to the north- 
ward, secure the roads, and prevent intelli- 
gence from passing in that direction. This 
was accordingly done. Colonel Allen's 
Green Mountain Boj^s having been collected 
as speedily as possible, the little army march- 
ed, and arrived at Castleton on the evening 
of the 7th of May. 

Here another council of war was held, 
and Ethan Allen was appointed the com- 
mander of the expedition, James Easton the 
second m command, and Seth Warner the 
third. Being thus organized they proceed- 
ed to fix a plan of operations. It was deci- 
ded that Colonel Alien and the principal of- 
ficers, with the main body of their forces, 
consisting of about one hundred and forty 
men, should march directly to Shoreham, 
opposite to Ticonderoga. A party of thir- 
ty men, commanded by Captain Herrick, 
rfus at the same time to move upon Skcnes- 



136 ^^ MEMOIR OF 

borougli, take Major Skene* and his people 
into custody, seize all the boats that could 
be found there, and hasten with them down 
the Lake to meet Colonel Allen at Shore- 
ham. Captain Douglass was also despatch- 
ed to Panton, beyond Crown Point, in. search 
of boats, which were to be brought to Shore- 
ham, as it was supposed the boats, at that 
place would be inadequate to the transport- 
ation of the troops across the Lake. 

The position now occupied w^as nine miles 
from Skenesborough, and tAventy-five from 
Ticonderoga by the route to be traversed. 
Just as. these arrangements were settled, 
the men selected for each party, and the 
whole prepared to march, Colonel Arnold ar- 
rived from Massachusetts, having been com- 
missioned hj the Committee of Safety of 
that colony, without any knowledge of what 
had been done in Connecticut, to raise men 
and proceed on the same enterprise. He 
brought no men with him, but had agreed 
with officers in Stockbridge to enlist and 
send forv'^ard such as could be obtained, ma- 
king all haste himself to join the expedition, 
which 'he did not hear was on foot till he 
came to that town. A difficulty now arose , 

*The son of Governor Skene, who was likewise 
called Major Skene, and wlio was at this time absent ii4 
England. 



ETHAN ALLEN. 137 

which threatened for the moment to defeat 
the whole scheme. Arnold claimed the com- 
mand of all the troops, by virtue of his com- 
mission from the Massachusetts Committee 
of Safety, .averring that this was a superior 
appointment to that of any other officer con- 
cerned, and demanding the preference as 
his right. The rumor soon got to the ears- 
of the soldiers, v/ho broke out into vehe- 
ment clamors, and were on the point of mu- 
tiny, declaring that they would serve under 
no officers except those with whom they had 
engaged, and that th.ey would club their 
muskets and march home. The flame was. 
quenched by the prudent conduct of Colo- 
nels Allen and Easton ; and when Arnold 
discovered, that his pretensions met with no 
favor either from the men or their leaders^ 
he yielded to necessity' and agreed to unite 
with them as a volunteer. 

The march was pursued according to the 
original plan, and Colonel Allen arrived 
without molestation on. the shore of the 
Lake opposite to Ticonderoga. It was im- 
portant to have a guide, who was acquaint- 
ed with the grounds around the fOTtress^ 
and the places of access. Allen made in- 
quiries as to those points of Mr. Beman, a 
farmer residing near the Lake in Shoreham,. 
who answered, that he "seldom crossed to Tir 



1 



138 MEMOIR OF 

conderoga, and was little acquainted mih. 
the particulars of its situation ; but that his 
son I'Tathan, a young lad, passed much of 
his time there in company with the boys of 
the garrison. !N"athan was called, and ap- 
peared by his answers to be famihar with ev- 
ery nook in the fort, and every passage and 
by-path by which it could be approached. 
In the eye of Colonel Allen he was the ve- 
ry person to thread out the best avenue ; 
and by the consent of the father and a little 
persuasion Nathan Beman was engaged to 
be the guide of the party. The next step 
was to procure boats, which were very defi- 
cient in number, as neither Captain Ilerrick 
nor Captain Douglass had sent any from 
Skenesborough or Pantcn. Eighty three 
men only had crossed, T>'hen the day. began 
to dawn ; and while the boats were sent back 
for the rear division. Colonel Allen resolved 
to move immediately against tlie fort. 

He drew up his men in three ranks, ad- 
dressed them in a short harangue, ordered 
them to face to the right, and placing him- 
self aj the head of the middle file, led 
them silently but with a cpick step up 
the ]ieights on which the fortress stood, and 
before the sun rose, he had entered the gate 
and formed his m,en on the parade between 
tlie barracks. Here they gave three huz- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 1S9 

zas, which aroused the sleeping inmates. 
When Colonel Allen passed the gate, a sen- 
tinel snapped his fiisee at him, and then re- 
treated under a covered way. Another 
sentinel made a thrust at an officer with a 
bayonet, which slightly -wounded him. Co- 
lonel Allen returned the comphment with a 
cut on the side of the soldier's head, at which 
he threw down his musket and asked quar- 
ter. No more resistance was made. Al- 
len demanded to be shown to the apartment 
of Captain Delaplace, the commandant of 
the garrison. It was pointed out, and Col- 
onel Allen, with Nathan Beman at his elbow, 
who knew the way, hastily ascended the 
stairs, which were attached to the outside of 
the barracks, and called out with a voice of 
thunder at the door, ordering the astonished 
captain instantly to appear, or the whole 
garrison should be sacrificed. Started at so 
strange and unexpected a summons, he 
sprang from his bed and opened the door, 
when the first salutation of his boisterous and 
unseasonable visitor was an order imm.ediate- 
ly to surrender the fort. Rubbirig his eyes 
and trying to collect his scattered senses, the 
captain asked by what authority he presum- 
ed to make such a dem.and. " In the name 
of the Great Jehovah and the Continental 
Congress," replied Allen. Not accustomxd 



140 MEMOIR OF 

to hear mticli of tlie Continental Congress- 
in this remote corner, nor to respect its au- 
thority when he did, the commandant be- 
gan to speak ; but Colonel Allen cut short 
the thread of his discourse bj lifting his 
sword over his head, and reiterating the de- 
mand for an immediate surrender. Having 
neither permission to argue nor power to re- 
sist, Captam Delaplace submitted, ordering 
his men to parade without arms, and the 
garrison was given up to the victors.* 

This surprise was affected about four o'- 
clock in the morning of the 10 th of May. 
"VYarner crossed the Lake with the remain- 
der of the troops, and marched up to the 
fort. The whole number of men under Col- 
onel Allen, as reported by the committee on 
the spot, in a letter to the Provincial Con- 
gress of Massachusetts, dated the day after 
the assault, was one hundred and forty from 
the New Hampshire Grants, and seventy 
from Massachusetts, besides sixteen from 
Connecticut. The prisoners were one cap- 

*The facts respecting Nathan BeiT.an were related 
to me by a gentleman, who received them from Na- 
than Beman himself. Whether this exploit of his 
boyhood was the only one performed by him during 
the war, I know not ; but his martial aptitude was dis- 
played in another career, ho having been for many 
years a noted hunter of wolves, on the northern bor- 
ders of New York between Lakes Champlain and On- 
sai-io. 



ETHAN ALLEN. 141 

tain, one lieutenant, and forty-eight subal- 
terns and privates, exclusive of women and 
children. They were all sent to Hartford, 
in Connecticut. The principal advantage 
of the capture, except that of possessing the 
post, was one hundred and twenty pieces of 
cannon, also swivels, mortars, small arms, 
and stores. The cannon only were of much 
importance. 

As soon as the prisoners were secured, 
and the bustle of the occasion had a little 
subsided, Colonel Allen sent off Warner with 
a detachment of men to take Crown Point. 
Strong head-winds drove back the boats, 
and the whole party returned the same ev- 
ening. The attempt was renewed a day or 
two afterwards, and proved successful. A 
sergeant and eleven men, being the whole 
g-arrison, were made prisoners. Sixty-one 
good cannon vfere found there, fifty-three 
unfit for service. Previously to this affair, 
Colonel Allen had sent a messenger to Cap- 
tain Remember Baker, who was at Onion 
River, requesting him to join the army at 
Ticonderoga with as large a number of men 
as he could assemble. Baker obeyed the 
summons ; and when he was coming up the 
Lake with his party, he met two small boats, 
which had been despatched from Crowu 
Point to carry intelligence of the reduction 



.142 MEMOIR OF 

of Ticonderoga to St. Jolm's and Montreal, 
and solicit reinforcements. The boats were 
seized by Baker, and he arriyed at Crown 
Point just in time to unite with Warner in 
taking possession of that post. 

Thus the main object of the expedition 
was attained; but the troubles of the leaders 
were not at an end. No sooner had the fort 
surrendered, than Arnold assumed the com- 
mand, affirming that he was the only officer 
invested with legal authority. His preten- 
sions were not heeded, and olthough he was 
vehement and positive, yet it was in vain to 
issue orders, which nobody would obey ; and 
finally he consented to a sort of divided con- 
trol between Colonel xillen and himself, he 
acting as a subordinate, but not wholly with- 
out official consideration. He had behaved 
with bravery in the assault, marching on the 
left of Colonel Allen, and entering the fort- 
ress side by side with him. When the Con- 
necticut committee perceived his design, 
they repelled it upon the principle, that the 
government of IMassachusetts had no con- 
cern in the matter, that the men from that 
colony under Colonel Easton v/ere paid by 
Connecticut, and that he could be consider- 
ed in no other li2;ht than a volunteer. The 
same committee installed Colonel Allen a- 
ncw in the command of Ticonderoga and its 



ETHAN ALLEN. 143 

dependencies, whicli by a formal commission 
they authorized him to retain, till Connecti- 
cut or the Continental Congress should send 
liim instructions. A narrative of the partic- 
ulars was despatched by an express to the 
Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, who 
confirmed the appointment, and directed Ar- 
nold not to interfere. 

The party that went to Skenesborough 
came unawares upon Major Skene the 
younger, whom they took prisoner, seizing 
likewise a schooner and several batteaux^ 
with all which they hastened to Ticondero- 
ga. Allen and Arnold now formed a plan 
to make a rapid push upon St. John's, take 
a king's sloop that lay there, a?ad attempt a 
descent upon the garrison. The schooner 
and batteaux were armed and manned; and, 
as Arnold had been a seaman in his youth, 
the command of the schooner was assigned 
to hira^ while the batteaux were committed 
to the charge of Allen. They left Ticon- 
deroga nearly at the same time, but the wind 
being fresh the schooner outsailed the bat- 
teaux. At eight o'clock on the evening of 
the 17th of May, Arnold was within thirty 
miles of St. John's ; and, as the v/eather was 
calm, he fitted out two batteaux with thirty- 
five men, leaving the schooner behind and 
I)xoceeding to St. John's, where he arrived 



144 MEMOIR OF 

at six o'clock the next morning, surprised 
and took a sergeant and twelve men, and 
the king's sloop of about seventy tons -with 
two brass six-pounders and six men, without 
any loss on either side. The wind proving 
favorable, he stayed but two hours and then 
returned, taking with him the sloop, four 
batteaux, and some valuable stores, having 
destroyed five batteaux, being all that re- 
mained. He was induced to hasten away, 
because large reinforcements were momen- 
tarily expfjcted from Montreal and Cham- 
blee. 

About fifteen miles from St. John's he 
met Colonel Allen, pressing onward with his 
party. A salute of three discharges of can- 
non on the one side, and three volleys of 
musketry on the other, was fired, and Allen 
paid Arnold a visit on board the king's sloop. 
After inquiring into the situation of things, 
Allen determined to proceed to St. John's 
and keep possession there with about one 
hundred men. He arrived just before night, 
landed his party, and marched about a mile 
towards Laprairie, where he formed an am- 
buscade to intercept the reinforcements hour- 
ly expected. But finding his men greatly 
fatigued, and ascertaining that a force much 
superior to his own was on its approach, he 
retired to the other side of the river. In 



ETHAN ALLEN. 145 

-Ms position he was attacked early in the 
morning by two hundred men, and driven 
to his boats, with which he returned to Ti- 
conderoga. His loss was three men taken 
prisoners, one of whom escaped m a few 
days. 

While this train of events was in pro- 
gress, Colonel Easton had repaired to Mas- 
sachusetts and Connecticut, instructed by 
Colonel Allen and the committee to explain 
to the governments of those colonies the 
transactions attending the capture of Ticon- 
derega and Crown Point, and to solicit aids 
to secure these conquests. Since the af- 
fair had begun in Connecticut, the Provin- 
cial Congress of Massachusetts seemed well 
inclined to let that colony have both the hon- 
or and burden of maintaining the acquisi- 
tions, which had been gained under her aus- 
pices, and wrote to the governor of Connec- 
ticut, disclaiming all motives of interference, 
and recommending the business to his spe- 
cial charge . Governor Trumbull immediate- 
ly prepared for sending up a reinforcement 
of four hundred men. But in truth, nei- 
ther party was ambitious of assummg the re= 
sponsibility of further operations, till the 
views and intentions of the Continental Con- 
gress should be known. Messengers were 
acordingly despatched to Philadelphia ; and 

10 



14G MEMOIR OF 

also to'tlie Convention of New York, in 
■wliicii province the conquered posts were situ- 
ate. Policy as well as courtesy required that 
New York should be consulted, since the co- 
operation of that colony was essential to the 
harmony and success of any future meas- 
ures. The Continental Congress approved 
what had been done, and requested Govern- 
or Trumbull to send a body of troops to Lake 
Champlain, sufficient to defend the garrisons 
of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, till further 
orders from the Congress, and at the same 
time desired the Convention of New York 
to supply the said troops with provisions. 
This arrangement was carried into effect, 
and one thousand troops were ordered to 
march from Connecticut under the com- 
mand of Colonel Hinman. 

Meantime Allen and Arnold kept their 
stations, the former as commander-in-chief at 
Ticonderoga, and the latter at Crown Point, 
wliere he acted the part rather of a naval 
than of a mihtary officer, having under his 
care the armed sloop and schooner which had 
been taken, and a small floiiila of batteaux. 
Some of Colonel AILen's men went home, 
but oLheis came in, both from the New Hamp- 
shire Grants, and from Albany county, so 
that his numbers increased. A few men al- 
so joined Arnold, whom he had engaged in 



ETHAN ALLEN. 147 

Massachusetts, when he crossed the country 
to. execute the commission of the Commit- 
tee of Safety, 

Flushed with his successes, and eager to 
pursue them, Colonel Allen began to extend 
his views more widely, and to think of the 
conquest of Canada. Persuaded that such 
an undertaking was feasible, and foreseeing 
its immense importance to the cause in which 
the country was now openly embarked, he " 
wrote the following letter to the Provincial 
Congress of New York. 

''Crown Point, 2 June, 17 75. 

" Gentlemen, 
" Before this time you have undoubtedly 
received intelligence, nob only of the taking 
of the fortified places on Lake Champlain, 
but also of the armed sloop and boats there- 
in, and the taking possession of a schooner, 
which is the property of Major Skene, which 
has ,been armed and manned, and of the con- 
version of them, with a large train of artil- 
lery, to the defence of the liberty and the 
constitutional rights of America. You have 
likewise undoubtedly been informed, that 
the expedition was undertaken at the special 
encouragement and request of a number of 
respectable gentlemen in the colony of Con- 
necticut. The pork forwarded to subsist 
the army by your directions evinces your ap- 



148 MEMOIR OF 

probation of the procedure ; and, as it was 
a private expedition, and common fame re- 
ports that there is a number of overgrown 
Tories in the province, jou will the readier 
excuse me in not taking jour advice in the 
matter, lest the enterprise might have been 
prevented by their treachery. It is here re- 
ported, that some of them have been convert- 
ed, and that others have lost their influence. 
" If in those achievements there be any 
thing honorary, the subjects of your govern- 
ment, namely, the New Hampshire settlers, 
are justly entitled to a large share, as they 
had a great majority of the soldiery, as well 
as the command, in making those acquisi- 
tions ; and, ais you justify and approve the 
same, I expect you already have or soon 
will lay before the grand Continental Con- 
gress the great disadvantage it must inevi- 
tably be to the colonies to evacuate Lake 
Champlain, and give up to the enemies of 
our country those invaluable acquisitions, the 
key either of Canada or of our own country, 
according to which party holds the same 
in possession, and makes a proper improve- 
ment of it. The key is ours as yet, and 
provided the colonies would suddenly push an 
army of two or three thousand men into Can- 
ada, they might make a conquest of all that 
would oppose them, in the extensive province 



** 



ETHAN ALLEN. 149 

of Quebec, unless reinforcements from Eng- 
land should prevent it. Sucli a division 
would weaken General Gage, or insure us 
Canada. I would lay my life on it, tliat 
with fifteen hundred men I could take Mon- 
treal. Provided I could be thus furnished, 
and an army could take the field, it would 
be no insuperable difficulty to take Quebec. 

" This object should be pursued, though 
it should take ten thousand men, for Eng- 
land cannot sparebut a certain number of her 
troops ; nay, she has but a small number 
that are disciplined, and it is as long as it is 
broad, the more that are sent to Quebec, the 
less they can send to Boston, or any other 
part of the continent. And there will be 
this unspeakable advantage in directing the 
war into Canada that instead of turning the 
Canadians and Indians against us, as is 
wrongly suggested by many, it would una- 
voidably attach and connect them to our in- 
terest. Our friends in Canada can never 
help us, until we first help them, except in 
a passive or inactive manner. There are 
now about seven hundred regular troops in 
Canada. 

" It may be thought, that to push an ar- 
my into Canada would be too premature and 
imprudent. If so, I propose to make a 
stand at the Isle-aux-Noix, which the French 



150 MEMOIR OE 

fortified "by intrencliinents the la;St war, and 
greatly fatigued our large army to take it. 
It is about fifteen miles on this side of St. 
John's, and is an island in the river, on 
which a small artillery placed would com- 
mand it. An establishment on a frontier, 
so far north, would not only better secure 
our own frontier, but put it in our power 
better to work our policy with the Canadi- 
ans and Indians, or if need be, to make in- 
cursions into the territory of Canada, the 
same as they could into our country, pro- 
vided they had the sovereignty of Lake 
Champlain, and had erected head-quarters 
at or near Skenesborough. Our only hav- 
ing it in our power, thus to make incursion® 
into Canada, might probably be the very 
reason why it would be unnecessary so to 
do, even if the Canadians should prove more 
refractory than I think for. 

" Lastly, f would propose to you to raise 
a small regiment of rangers, which I could 
easily do, and that mostly in the counties of 
Albany and Charlotte, provided you should 
think it expedient to grant commissions, and 
thus regulate and put them under pay. 
Probably you may think this an impertinent 
proposal. It is truly the first favor I ever 
asked of the government, and, if granted, I 
shall be zealously ambitious to conduct for 



ETBLVN ALLEN. 151 

the best good of my country, aiK?" the hon- 
or of the government. I am. Gentlemen, 
&c. 

" EiHAiSr Allen." 

In forming an estimate of this letter, it is 
to be remembered, that no person had as 
yet ventured publicly to recommend an in- 
vasion of Canada. It had in fact hitherto 
been the policy of Congress to give as little 
oifence to the Canadians as possible, this 
course being thought the most likely to con- 
ciliate their friendship. A resolve passed 
that assembly, the day before the above let- 
ter was written, expressing a decided opin- 
ion, that no colony or body of colonists ought 
to countenance any incursion into Canada. 
The same sentiments had been declared in a 
public manner, by the New York Provincial 
Congress. Ethan Allen's letter, therefore, 
had little chance of meeting with favor from 
the persons to whom it v^as addressed. The 
merit of being the first to suggest plans which 
were afterwards adopted by the national 
•councils, as of great pohtical moment, was 
nevertheless due to him. Before the end 
of three months from the date of his letter, 
an expedition against Canada was set on foot 
by Congress, and seconded by the voice of 
the whole nation. Colonel Allen's advice 



152 MEMOIR OF 

was deemed bold and incautious when it was 
given, but subsequent events proved, that 
its basis was wisdom and forethought ; and 
had it been heeded, and a competent force 
pushed immediately into Canada, before the 
British had time to rally and concentrate 
their scattered forces, few in numbers and 
imperfectly organized, there can be no reas- 
sonable doubt, that the campaign would have 
been succes&ful, instead of the disastrous 
failure, which actually ensued, and which 
may be ascribed more to the wavering sen- 
timents and tardy motions of Congress in 
projecting and maturing the expedition, than 
to any defect in the plan .or in the manner 
of its execution. 

As Colonel Allen knew it was at this time 
the prevailing policy to secure the neutrality 
of the Canadians, he made no hostile demon- 
strations towards Canada, after the prudent 
measure in conjunction with Arnold of seizing 
all the watercraft at St. John's ; unless the 
sending of a reconnoitering party over the 
line may beconsidered a belhgerent act. It is 
evident, however, that he did not look upon 
it in that light ; for when his party of four 
men returned, and reported that they had 
been fired upon by about thirty Canadians, 
he interpreted it as a breach of peace on the 
side of the assailants. Embracing this as a 



ETHAN ALLEN. 15S 

fit opportunity, lie wrote a paper, combining 
the two properties of a complaint and an ad- 
dress, wMch was signed bj him and Colonel 
Easton, and despatched to a confidential per- 
son at Montreal, with directions to have it 
translated into French and circulated among 
the people. The idea of neutrality was put 
forward in this paper, as the one which the 
Canadians ought to cherish, since they had 
no direct interest in taking part with the 
English, and certainly no cause for joining 
in a quarrel against their neighbors of the 
other colonies. 

The troops from Connecticut under Col- 
onel Hinman at length arrived at Ticonder- 
oga, and Colonel Allen's command ceased. 
His men chiefly returned home, their term 
of service having expired. He and Seth 
Warner set off on a journey to the Conti- 
nental Congress, with the design of procur- 
ing pay for the soldiers, who had served un- 
der them, and of soliciting authority to raisa 
a new regiment in the New Hampshire 
Grants. In both these objects they were 
successful. By an order of Congress they 
were introduced on the floor of the House, 
and they communicated verbally to the mem- 
bers such information as was desired. Con- 
gress voted to allow the men, who had been- 
employed in taking and garrisoning Ticonr 



154 MEMOIR OP 

cleroga and Crown Point, tlie same pay as 
■was received by officers and privates in the 
American army ; and also recommended to 
the Provincial Congress of New York, that, 
after consulting with General Schuyler, 
" they should employ in the army to be rais- 
ed for the defence of America those called 
Green Mountain Boys, under such officers as 
the saidGreen LIountainBoys should choose." 
This matter was referred to the government 
of New York, that no controversy might a- 
rise about jurisdiction, at a time when af- 
fairs of vastly greater moment demanded the 
attention of all parties. 

Allen and Warner repaired without delay 
to the New York Congress, presented them- 
selves at the door of the hall, and requested 
an audience, the resolve of the Continental 
Congress having already been received and 
discussed. An embarrassing difficulty now 
arose among the members, which caused 
much warmth of debate. The persons, who 
asked admittance, were outlaws by an exist- 
ing act of the legislature of New York, and, 
although the Provincial Congress was a dis- 
tinct body from the old assembly, organized 
in opposition to it, and holding its recent 
principles and doings in detestation, yet 
■some members had scruples on the subject 
■of disregarding in so palpable a manner the 



ETHAN ALLEN. 155 

laws of the land, as to join in a public con- 
ference with men, who had been proclaimed 
bj the highest authority in the colony to be 
rioters and felons. There was also another 
party, whose feelings and interest were en- 
listed on the side of their scruples, who had 
taken an active part in the contest, and 
whose antipathies were too deeply rooted to 
be at once eradicated. On the other hand, 
the ardent friends of liberty, who regarded 
the great cause at stake as paramount to ev- 
ery thing else, and v;ho were wilhng to show 
their disrespect for the old assembly, argued 
not only the injustice but tyranny of the act 
in question, and represented in strong colors 
the extreme impohcy of permitting ancient 
feuds to mar the harmony and obstruct the 
concert of action, so necessary for attaining 
the grand object of the wishes and efforts of 
every member present. In the midst of the 
debate. Captain Sears moved that Ethan Al- 
len should be admitted to the floor of the 
House. The motion was seconded by Me- 
lancton Smith, and was carried by a major- 
ity of two to one. A similar motion prevailed 
in regard to Seth Warner. 

When these gentlemen had addressed the 
House they withdrew, and it was resolved, 
that a regiment of Green Mountain Boys 
should be raised, not exceeding five hun- 



156 MEMOIR OF 

dred men, and to consist of seven companies. 
Thej were to choose their own officers, ex- 
cept the field-officers, who were to be ap- 
pointed hj the Congress of New York ; but 
it w^as requested that the people would nom- 
inate such persons as thej approved. A 
lieutenant-colonel was to be the highest offi- 
cer. The execution of the resolve was re- 
ferred to General Schuyler, w^ho immediate- 
ly gave notice to the inhabitants of the 
Grants, and ordered them to proceed in or- 
ganizing the regiment. 

Meantime Allen and AYarner had finished 
their mission, and returned to their friends. 
The committees of several townships assem- ' 
bled at Dorset to choose officers for the new 
regiment. The choice fell on Seth Warner 
for lieutenant-colonel, and on Samuel Saf- 
ford for major. This nomination was con- 
firmed by the New York Congress. Wlieth- 
er Colonel Allen declined being a candidate, 
or w^hether it was expected that the regi- 
ment would ultimately have a colonel, and 
that he would be advanced to that post, or 
whether his name was omitted for any other 
reason, I have no means of determining. 
At any rate he was not attached to the reg- 
iment, and in a few days he joined General 
Schuyler at Ticonderoga as a volunteer. He 
wrot^ a letter of thanks to the New York 



ETHAN ALLEN. 15T 

Congress in the following words. " When 
I reflect on the unhappy controversy, which 
has many years subsisted between the gov- 
ernment of New York, and the settlers on 
the New Hampshire Grants, and also con- 
template the friendship and union that have 
lately taken place, in making a united resist- 
ance against ministerial vengeance and slave- 
ry, I cannot but indulge fond hopes of a rec- 
onciliation. To promote this salutary end 
I shall contribute my influence, assuring you, 
that your respectful treatment not only to 
Mr. Warner and myself, but to the , Green 
Mountain Boys in general in forming them 
into a battalhon, is by them duly regarded ; 
and I will be responsible, that they will re- 
ciprocate this favor by boldly hazarding their 
lives, if need be, in the common cause of A- 
merica." 

Knowing the value of Colonel Allen's ex- 
perience and activity. General Schuyler per- 
suaded him to remain in the army, chiefly 
with the view of acting as a pioneer among 
the Canadians. In pursuance of this design, 
as soon as the army reached Isle-aux-Noix, an 
address to the people of Canada was written 
by General Schuyler, the drift of which was 
to convince them that the invasion was ex- 
clusively against the British, and in no de- 
gree intended as an encroachment on the 



158 ■ MEMOIR OF 

rights and liberties of tlie ancient inhabit- 
ants. On the contrary thej were invited to 
nnite with the Americans, and participate in 
the honorable enterprise of throwing off the 
shackles of an oppressive government, as- 
serting the claims of justice, and securing 
the enjoyment of freedom. This address 
was committed to the hands of Ethan Allen, 
who was instructed to proceed with it into 
Canada, make it known to the inhabitants in 
such a manner as his discretion should dic- 
tate, and ascertain as far as he could their 
temper and sentiments. 

He went first to Chamblee, where he 
found many persons friendly to the Ameri- 
can cause, and among them several men of 
the first respectability and influence. He 
was visited by these gentlemen, and by the 
militia captains in that neighborhood, who 
seemed well disposed to join with the Amer- 
icans, if there was any chance of their com- 
ing forward in such numbers as to hold out a 
probability of success. They furnished Col. 
Allen with a guard, who constantly attend- 
ed him under arms, and escorted liini through 
the woods. He sent a messenger to the 
chiefs of the Caghnawaga Indians, proffer- 
ing to them peace and friendship. They re- 
turned the compliment by delegating two 
of their tribe, with beads and a belt of wam- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 159 

pum, to hold a conference with Colonel Al- 
len and confirm the friendly disposition of 
the Caghnawagas. The ceremony Tvas per- 
formed -with much parade and solemnity, ac- 
cording to the Indian manner. After spend- 
ing eight days on this mission, traversing 
different parts of the country between the So- 
rel and St. Lawrence, and conversing with 
many persons, Colonel Allen returned to the 
army at Isle-aux-Noix. The result of his 
observation was, that, should the American 
army invest St. John's, and advance into 
Canada with a respectable force, a large 
number of the inhabitants would immediate- 
ly join in arms with tlie Americans ; but till 
such a movement should be made, it was 
not likely that there would be any open in- 
dications of hostility to the British power. 
His conduct in executing this service was ap- 
proved by General Schuyler. 

Just at this time the command of the 
Canada expedition devolved on General 
Montgomery, who advanced to St. John's, 
and laid siege to that garrison. Colonel 
Allen was immediately despatched to retrace 
his steps, penetrate the country, and raise 
as many of the inhabitants as he could to u- 
nite in arms with the American forces. He 
had been absent a week, when he wrote as 
fcllows to General Montgomery. 



-Sflf 



160 MEMOIR OF 

" I am now at the parish of St. Ours, 
four leagues from Sorel to the south. I 
have two hundred and fifty Canadians un- 
der arms. As I march, they gather fast. 
There are the objects of taking the vessels 
in the Sorel and General Carleton. These 
objects I pass by to assist the army besieg- 
ing St. John's. If that place be taken, the 
country is ours ; if we miscarry in this, all 
other achievemonts will profit but little. I 
am fearful our army will be sickly, and that 
the siege may be hard ; therefore I choose 
to assist in conquering St. John's. You 
may rely on it, that I shall join you in about 
three days with five htlndred or more Can- 
adian volunteers. I could raise one or two 
thousand in a week's time, but I will first 
visit the army with a less number, and, if 
necessary, go again recruiting. It is with 
the advice of the officers with me, that I 
speedily repair to the army. God grant 
you wisdom and fortitude and every accom- 
plishment of a victorious general." 

Unluckily these anticipations were blight- 
ed in their bloom. In an evil hour Colonel 
Allen w^as induced to change his judicious 
determination of joining General Montgom- 
ery without delay, and to give ear to a pro- 
ject, which proved the ruin of his bright 
hopes, and led him into a fatal snare. He 



ET3AN ALLEN, 161 

liad' marched tip the eastern bank of the St. 
Lawrence as far as Longueil, nearly oppo- 
site to Montreal, and was pressing on towards 
St. John's, according to the tenor of his let- 
ter. Between Longueil and Laprairie he 
fell in with Major Brown, who was at the 
head of an advanced party of jimericans 
and Canadians. Brown requested him to 
stop, took him aside, and proposed to unite 
their forces in an attack on Montreal, re- 
presenting the defenceless condition of the 
town, and the ease with which it might be 
taken by surprise. Relying on the knowl- 
edge and fidehty of Brown, and ever ready 
to pursue adventures and court danger, Co- 
lonel xllleri assented to the proposal, and 
the plan was matured on the spot. Allen 
was to return to Longueil, procure canoes, 
and pass over with his party in the night a 
little below Montreal ; and Bromi at the 
same time was to cross above the town, with 
about two hundred meli, and the attack was 
to be made simultaneously at opposite points. 
True to his engagement, Allen crossed 
the river on the night of the 24th of Sep- 
tember, with eighty -Canadians and thirty 
Americans, and landed them undiscovered 
before daylight, although the canoes were so 
few and small, that it was necessary to pas? 
back and forth three times in conveying o- 

u 



162 MEMOm OF 

ver the -wliole party. The wind was high 
and the waves rough, which added to the 
peril of an adventure sufficiently hazardous 
in itself. The day dawned, and Colonel Al- 
len waited with impatience for the signal of 
Major Brown's division having division land- 
ed above the town. He set guards in the 
road to stop all persons that were passing, 
and thus prevent intelligence of his approach 
from being carried into Montreal. When 
the morning was considerably advanced and 
no signal had been given, it was evident 
that Major Brown had not crossed the river. 
Colonel Allen w^ould willingly havje retreat- 
ed, but it was now too late. The canoes 
■would hold only one third of his party. A 
person detained by his guard had escaped 
and gone into the town, and presently arm- 
ed men were seen coming out. He posted 
his men in the best manner he could, and 
prepared to maintain his ground. About 
forty British regulars, two or three hundred 
Canadians, and a few Indians, constituted 
the assailing force. The skirmish continued 
an hour and three quarters, when Colonel 
Allen agreed to surrender to the principal 
British officer, upon being promised honora- 
ble terms. His men had all deserted him 
in the conflict, except thirty-eight, who were 
iiicluded in his capitulation. Seven of thess 



ETHAN ALLEN. 163 

were wounded. Tliej were treated civilly 
by the officers while marching into Montre- 
al, and till they were delivered over to Gen- 
eral Prescott, whose conduct is described as 
having been peculiarly harsh, and in all re- 
spects unworthy of an officer of his rank. 
His language was coarse and his manner un- 
feehng. After conversing with his prison- 
er, and asking hun if he was the same Colo- 
nel Allen,' who had taken Ticonderoga, he 
burst into a passion, threatened him with a 
halter at Tyburn, and ordered him to be 
bound hand and foot in irons on board the 
Gaspee schooner of war. In this situation 
Colonel Allen wrote the following letter to 
General Prescott. 

" Honorable Sir, 

" In the wheel of transitory events I find 
myself a pi^soner and in irons. Probably 
your honor has certain reasons to me incon- 
ceivable, though I challenge an instance of 
this sort of economy of the Americans du- 
ring the late war towards any officers of the 
Crown. On my part, I have to assure your 
Honor, that when I had the command and 
took Captain Delaplace and Lieutenant Fel- 
ton, with the garrison at Ticonderoga^ I 
treated them with every mark of friendship 
and generosity, the evidence of which is no- 



164 MEMOIR OF 

torious even in Canada. I have only to add, 
that I expect an honorable and humane 
treatment, as an officer of my rank and mer- 
it should have, and subscribe myself your 
Honor's most obedient humble servant. 
"Ethan Allen."* 

No answer to this letter was returned. 
Colonel Allen's irons were massive, and so 
fastened as to give him constant pain. He 
was handcuffed, and his ankles were con- 
fined in shackles, to which was attached a 
bar of iron eight feet long. In this plight 
he was thrust into the lowest part of the 
ship, where he had neither a bed nor any ar- 
ticle of furniture except a chest, on which 
by the favor of some humane sailor he was 
allowed to sit, or lie on his back, the only 
recumbent posture that his irons would suf- 
fer him to assume. His companions in arms, 
who capitulated on the same terms as their 
leader, were fastened together in pairs with 
handcuffs and chains. 

=^The account of the capture of Ticonderoga, which 
has been given above, and of the subsequent events of 
Colonel Allen's life till he was taken prisoner, has 
been drawn entirely from original manuscripts, in the 
public offices of Massachusetts and New York, and 
among General Washington's papers. The particu- 
ulars respecting his captivity are chiefly gathered from 
his own " Narrative,^' written and published shortly af- 
ter his release. 



ETHAN ALLEN. 165 

For more than five weeks the prisoners 
were kept in this manner on board the Gas- 
pee, treated as criminals, and subject to ev- 
ery indignity from the officers, and from per- 
sons who came to see them out of curiosity. 
After the repulse of Governor Carleton at 
Longueil, by Warner and his brave Green 
Mountain Boys, the state of affairs in Mon- 
treal began to put on a more doubtful as- 
pect. It was deemed advisable to send off 
the prisoners, that there might be no danger 
of a rescue, in case of the sudden apjjroach 
of General Montgomery's army, which 
might be daily expected. 

In a short time' Colonel Allen found him- 
self at Quebec, where he was transferred to 
another vessel, and then to a third, a change 
most favorable to his health and comfort. 
Captain Littlejohn, the commander of the 
last vessel, was particularly civil, generous, 
. and friendly, ordering his irons to be knock- 
ed off, taking him to his own table, and de- 
claring that no brave man should be ill 
used on board his ship. Unhappily this re- 
spite from suffering was of short continuance. 
Arnold appeared at Point Levi, on the 9th 
of November, with an armed force, descend- 
ing from the forests like an apparition of en- 
chantment in some fairy tale. The news of 
the surrender of St. John's and the capitu- 



166 MEMOIR OF 

lation of Montreal to General Montgomeiy 
came soon afterwards. These events were 
looked upon as the harbinger of greater dis- 
asters, in the downfall of Quebec, and the 
conquest of the whole province. In antici- 
pation of the fate of St. John's and Montre- 
al, a vessel of war, called the Adamant, had 
been got in readiness to carry despatches to 
the government. The prisoners were put on 
board this vessel, and consigned to the 
charge of Brook Watson, a merchant of 
Montreal. Several other loyalists were pas- 
sengers, and among them Guy Johnson. 

Under his new master. Colonel Allen 
soon discovered, that he was not to expect 
the urbanity and kindness of Captain Little- 
john. His handcuffs were replaced, and 
he and thirty-three other prisoners, mana- 
cled in the same manner, were confined to- 
gether in a single apartment, enclosed with 
oak plank, which they were not suffered to 
leave during the whole passage of nearly 
forty days. Where there is so much to 
censure in the hardened insensibiUty, which 
could inflict sufferings like these on prison- 
ers, whose only crime was their bravery, it 
should be mentioned as one softening fea- 
ture, that as much provision was served to 
them as they wanted, and a gill of rum a 
day to each man ; so that the negative mei^ 



ETHAN ALLEN. 16T 

it of not adding starvation to confinement, 
insults, and chains, should be allowed to 
have its full weight. The name of Brook 
Watson had already become notorious. 
Three or four months previously to his sail- 
ing for England, he had been at New York 
and Philadelphia, visited many persons 
of distinction, especially members of the 
Continental Congress, and conducted him- 
self in such a manner as to leave the impres- 
sion, that he was a warm friend to the A- 
merican cause. Immediately after his re- 
turn to Montreal, letters written by him to 
persons in General Gage^s army at Boston 
were intercepted, which proved him to have 
deserved the character rather of a spy than 
a friend. ■ He had art, insincerity, and tal- 
ent. He was the same Brook Watson, who 
was afterwards Lord Mayor of London. 

It was a joyful day for the prisoners when 
the Adamant entered the harbor of Fal- 
mouth. Their long and close confinement 
had become extremely irksome and painful. 
They were now brought on deck, and per- 
mitted to breathe the fresh air, and were 
cheered with the hght of day. In a short 
time they were landed, and marched to 
Pendennis Castle, about a mile from the 
•town. Great crowds were attracted to wit- 
rness so novel a sight ; and if all the prison- 



XQS MEMOIR OP 

ers were habited in tlie costume of Colonel 
Allen, it is no wonder that their curiosity 
was excited. While he was on his recruit- 
ing tour he had clothed himself in a Can- 
adian dress, consisting of a short, fawn-skin, 
double-breasted jacket, a vest and breeches 
of sagathy, worsted stockings, shoes, a plain 
shirt, and a red worsted cap. In this garb 
he was taken ; and, as it had never been 
changed during his captivity, he was exhib- 
ited in it to the gazing multitudes of Tal- 
mouth. Robinson Crusoe on his island could 
hardly have presented a more grotesque ap- 
pearance. The people stared, but no insult 
■was offered to the prisoners on their way to 
the castle. 

In this new abode they found their con- 
dition much improved, being lodged in an 
airy room, and indulged with the luxury of 
bunks and straw. Their irons were still 
kept on, but they were kindly treated, and 
furnished with fresh and wholesome provis- 
ions. Colonel Allen was particularly favor- 
ed by the commandant of the castle, who 
sent him a breakfast and dinner every day 
from his own table, and now and then a bot- 
tle of wine. Another benevolent gentle- 
man supplied his board witli suppers, and in 
the article of good living his star of fortune 
had probably never been more propitious. 






ETHAN ALLEN. 1G0' 

The renown of his adventure at Ticondero- 
ga had gone before him ; and as that for- 
tress had a notoriety in England, on ac- 
eount of its importance in former wars, the 
man who had conquered it was looked upon 
as no common person, though now in chains 
and stigmatized with the name of rebel. Ho 
was permitted to walk on the parade-ground 
within the walls of the castle, where many 
respectable people from the neighborhood 
paid him a visit, and conversed with him ou 
various topics. His bold and independent 
manner, fluency of language, and strong na- 
tive talent, contrasted with the singularity 
of his appearance, in his Canadian dress 
and handcuffs, awakened the surprise and 
contributed to the amusement of his audi- 
tors. Though in bondage, and completely 
at the mercy of his enemies, he was elo- 
quent on the theme of patriotism, boasted 
the courage and firmness of his country- 
men, and pledged himself that they would 
never cease to resist oppression, till their 
just claims were allowed, and their Hberty 
secured. These poHtical harangues, if they 
had no other effect, served to lighten the 
weight of his chains, and to give a seeming 
impulse to the leaden wings of time. 

Notwithstanding the comparative amelior- 
ation of his circumstances. Colonel Allen'& 



170 MEMOIR OF 

mind was not perfectly at ease in regard to 
the future. General Prescott's hint about 
his gracing a halter at Tyburn rested upon 
his thoughts, and gave him some uneasiness 
amidst the uncertain prospects now before 
him. But despondency and fear made no 
part of his character, and, even when hope 
failed, his fortitude was triumphant. Pre- 
pared for the worst that might happen, he 
]>ethought himself of trying the effect of a 
stratagem. He asked permission to write a 
letter to the Continental Congress, which 
was granted. He depicted in vivid colors 
the treatment he had received from the be- 
ginning of his captivity, but advised the 
Congress not to retaliate, till the fate that a- 
waited him. in England should be known, 
and then to execute the law of retaliation 
not in proportion to the small influence of 
his character in America, but to the extent 
demanded by the importance of the cause 
for which he had suffered. The despatch 
was finished, and handed over for inspection 
to the officer, who had pemiitted him to 
write. This officer went to him the next 
day, and reprimanded him for what he call- 
•ed the impudence of inditing such an epis- 
tle. " Do you think we are fools in Eng- 
land," said he, '' and would send your letter 
to Congress with instructions to retaliate oa 



ETHAN ALLEN. 171 

our own people ? I have sent your letter 
to Lord North." Tliis was precisely the 
destination for which the writer intended it, 
and he felt a secret satisfaction that his ar- 
tifice had succeeded. He wished the min- 
istry to know his situation and his past suf- 
ferings, and to reflect, that his countrymen 
had it in their power to retaliate in full 
measure any acts of violence meditated a- 
gainst his person. A letter on these sub- 
jects, written directly to a minister by a 
prisoner in irons, would not have been for- 
warded. 

Whatever ideas the ministry may have en- 
tertained when the prisoners were landed, 
it was soon perceived that lenient measures 
were the most advisable. The opposition 
made a handle of an act so outrageous, as 
that of treating as malefactors and chain- 
ing men, who had been taken bravely fight- 
ing in a cause, for which a whole continent 
was in arms ; and it w^as now too late to talk 
of hanging the revolted colonists on the 
plea of rebellion. Moreover it was known, 
that St. John's and Montreal had surren- 
dered to Montgomery, and that the very 
officers, who had captured those men and 
sent them to England, were in the hands of 
the Americans. It was furthermore rumor- 
ed, that certain gentlemen had resolved to 



172 MEMOIR OF 

try the effect of the Habeas Corpus act m 
setting the prisoners at liberty, or at least 
in bringing them to a trial before a proper 
magistrate, to ascertain whether they were 
legally guilty of any offence, which justified 
their confinement. To silence popular cla- 
mor, and prevent rash consequences, the 
government determined to regard them as 
prisoners of war, and to send them back to 
America. For this purpose they were or- 
dered on board the Solebay frigate, where 
their irons were taken off, after they had 
worn them about three months and a half. 

Just at this time the grand armament 
was preparing to sail from Ireland, under 
Sir Peter Parker and Lord Cornwallis, with 
troops to act against North Carolina, accord- 
ing to a plan formed by the ministry in con- 
sequence of the representations of Govern- 
or Martin, that a numerous body of loyalists 
was ready to take up arms in that colony, 
as soon as they should be encouraged by the 
co-operation of a sufficient force from Great 
Britain. The troops were to be put on board 
in the harbor of Cork, where the vessels 
destined for the expedition rendezvoused, 
and among them the Solebay frigate. From 
the captain of this ship Colonel Allen had 
early proofs, that the prisoners were to ex- 
pect neither lenity nor civil treatment. His 



ETHxVN ALLEN. 173 

first salutation was to order tliem in an im- 
perious tone to leave the deck, and never ap- 
pear there again, adding that the deck was 
the " place for gentlemen to walk." Allen 
was conducted down to the cable-tier, where 
he was left to accommodate himself as well 
as he could. Being ill of a cold, and his 
health much impaired by his late suiferings, 
the natural buoyancy of his spirits failed 
him in this comfortless abode, and he felt 
himself, as he has expressed it, " in an evil 
case," imagining his enemies to have devis- 
ed this scheme of effecting, by a slow and 
clandestine process, what it was impolitic for 
them to do in the open face of day with the 
eyes of the public upon them. 

His despondency, however, gradually 
wore off, and, two days afterwards, wanting 
fresh air and exercise, he resolved to try 
the experiment of appearing on deck, hav- 
ing washed, shaved, and adjusted his dress 
in the best manner his scanty wardrobe 
would allow. The captain saw him, and de- 
manded in an angry voice, if he had not 
been ordered not to come on deck. Colonel 
Allen replied, that he had heard such an or- 
der from him, but at the same time he had 
said, " the deck was the place for gentle- 
men to walk," and, as he was Colonel Allen 
and a gentleman, he claimed the privilege of 



174 MEMOIR OP 

his rank. lYhetLer influenced by this kind 
of logic, or by some other reason, the cap- 
tain contented himself with uttering an oath 
and cautioning the prisoner never to be seen 
on the same side of the ship with him. 
There was encouragement even in this harsh 
greeting, since it did not amount to an ab- 
solute prohibition ; and, by taking care to 
keep at a proper distance from the captain, 
he was afterwards permitted to walk the 
deck, though sometimes capriciously and 
rudely ordered off. His condition below was 
somewhat amended by the generosity of the 
master-at-arms, an Irishman, who offered him 
a place in a little berth fitted up for himself 
with canvass betT/een the decks, in which 
he was kindly allowed by the occupant to re- 
main till the ship arrived in America. 

When it was known at Cork, that Colo- 
nel Allen and his fellow-prisoners were in the 
harbor on board the Solebay, several gen- 
tlemen of that city determined to convey to 
them substantial evidences of their sympa- 
thy. A full suit of clothes was sent to 
each of the privates ; and Colonel Allen's 
wardrobe was replenished with fine broad- 
cloth sufiicient for two suits, eight shirts, and 
stocks ready made, several pairs of silk and 
worsted hose, shoes, and two beaver hats, 
one of which was richly adorned with gold 



ETHAN ALLEN- 175 

lace. Nor did the bounty of the philanthro- 
pists of Cork end here. Although thej had 
clothed the naked, they did not consider 
the work of benevolence finished till they 
had fed the hungry. A profuse supply of 
sea-stores came on board for Colonel Allen, 
consisting of sugar, coffee, tea, chocolate, 
pickled beef, fat turkies, wines, old spirits, 
and other articles suited for a voyage. Each 
of the privates also received tea and sugar. 
Added to this, a gentleman visited Colonel 
AUenjin behalf of the donors- and offered him 
fifty guineas, which, after the other tokens 
of their munificence, he declined to accept, 
retaining only seven guineas as a relief in 
case of pressing necessity. 

The above articles were admitted on board 
by the second lieutenant, while his superiors 
were on shore ; but when the captain re- 
turned and was informed what had been 
done, he was angry, and swore that " the 
American rebels should not be feast-ed at 
this rate by the rebels of Ireland." He 
took away all the liquors, except a small 
quantity, which was secreted by the conni- 
vance of the second lieutenant, and he ap- 
propriated to the use of the crew all the 
tea and sugar, that had been given to the 
privates. The clothing they were permit- 
ted to keep. 



176 " MEMOIR OF 

The fleet put to sea from Cork on the 
13th of February, consisthig of forty-three 
sail, with about two thousand five hundred 
troops. The weather was fine, and the ef- 
fect was beautiful as the ships sailed out of 
the harbor ; but they had been out only five 
days, when a terrible storm arose, which rag- 
ed with unabated violence for twenty-four 
hours, dispersed the fleet, and shattered sev- 
eral of the transports so much, that they 
were obliged to put back to Cork and the 
southern ports of England. The Solebay 
received no essential injury, and she pro- 
ceeded on her voyage. Before they left 
Cork the prisoners were divided and as- 
signed to three different ships. This gave 
their leader some uneasiness, for they had 
been brave, and true to the cause in which 
they suffered, and had borne all their calam- 
ities with a becoming fortitude. It turned 
out, however, that they were better treated 
on board the other ships, than they had been 
while with him. The only incidcLt worthy 
of being commemorated, which happened 
to Colonel Allen during the voyage, was the 
change of his Canadian costume for one fab- 
ricated from the superfine broadcloths re- 
ceived in Cork. This metamorphosis was 
effected by the aid of the captain's tailor, 
whose services were granted on this occa- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 177 

sion as a special favor. Clad in his new 
suit with his silk stockings and laced hat, 
the prisoner made a more respectable fig- 
ure on deck, and enjoyed privileges, which 
at first had been denied. 

It was with some regret, therefore, that, 
after his arrival at Cape Fear River, in 
North Carolina, he found himself transferred 
to the Mercury frigate, the oaptain of which 
he describes as tyrannical, narrow-minded, 
and destitute of the common feelings of hu- 
manity. The only consolation in this change 
of circumstances was, that his original com- 
panions in captivity were brought together 
again on board this ship, except one who 
had died on the passage from Ireland, and 
another who had escaped by an extraordin- 
ary exertion of swimming, after the fleet 
arrived on the coast, and who safely reach- 
ed his home in New England. The captain 
ordered the purser not to let the prisoners 
have any thing from his store, and forbade 
the surgeon's attending them m sicl^ness. 
Every night they were shut down in the ca- 
ble-tier, and indeed they passed a miserable 
existence both day and night, being told, 
w'hen they complained of such treatmenft, 
that it was a matter of little consequence, 
as they would be hanged when they arrived 
in Halifax* 

12 



178 MEMOIR OF 

The Mercury sailed from Cape Fear Riv- 
er on the 20th of May, and touched at the 
Hook off New York the first week in June. 
At this time General Washington with the 
American Army had possession of New 
York, and the British shipping lay in the 
outer harbor near the Hook. The Mercu- 
ry remained here three days, during which 
time Governor Tryon, and Mr. Kemp, the 
attorney-general of New York under the 
old government, came on board. Tryon 
eyed Allen, as they were walking on differ- 
ent parts of the deck, but did not speak to 
him. It is natural to presume, that the late 
governor saw with a secret satisfaction the 
man in safe custody, who had caused him so 
much unavailing trouble in writing procla- 
mations. Kemp was the sam^e attorney, 
whom Allen had met at Albany, when he 
attended the court there as agent for the 
patentees of the New Hampshire Grants. 
No man had been more active in pressing 
the New York claims, or in stirring up per- 
secutions against the Green Mountain Boys ; 
and of course no one had acquired among 
them a more odious notoriety. This acci- 
dental meeting with Ethan Allen must have 
called up peculiar associations in the minds 
of both the governor and the attorney-gen- 
eral. 



ETHAN ALLEN. 179 

The Mercury arrived in Halifax after a 

short passage from New York. The pris- 
oners were put into a sloop, then lying in the 
harbor, and a guard watched them day and 
night. In this confinement they were serv- 
ed with so scanty an allowance of provisions, 
that they suffered cruelly from the distress 
of hunger, which, added to attacks of the 
scurvy, made their condition more deplora- 
ble than it had been at any former time. 
They were still under the direction of the 
captain of the Mercury, to whom they wrote 
letter after letter, imploring medical aid and 
other assistance, but in vain. The captain 
was deaf to their calls, took no notice of 
their complaints, and, to get rid of their im- 
portunities, he ordered the guards to bring 
him no more letters. Their case seemed now 
reduced to the verge of despair. Allen re- 
solved, however, to make one more effort. 
He wrought so far upon the compassion of 
one of the guards, as to persuade him to 
take a letter directed to Governor Arbuth- 
not, which was faithfully communicated. 
Touched with the claims of humanity, the 
governor immediately sent a surgeon to the 
prisoners, with instructions to administer 
such relief to the sick as was necessary, and 
also an officer, to ascertain and report the 
grounds of their complaint. This officer dis- 



180 MEMOIR OF 

charged his duty well, and the result was, 
that the next day they were removed from 
theu: dismal quarters on board the prison- 
sloop to the jail in Halifax. 

To seek the asylum of a jail is not a u- 
sual experiment for attaining happiness. In 
the present instance, however, it was a for- 
tunate one for the sufferers, inasmuch as it 
was the means of relieving them from the 
pains of hunger, and procuring for them 
the attendance of a physician. In other re- 
spects their condition was little amended, 
since more than thirty persons were shut up 
in one room, several of them in various stag- 
es of sickness, with hardly a single accom- 
modation, that could in any manner contrihr 
ute to their comfort or convenience. Some 
of Allen's fellow-prisoners had been sent to 
the hospital, and others employed in the pub- 
lic works, so that only thirteen of those ta- 
ken in Canada now remained with him. 

Among the American prisoners, whom Al- 
len met in Halifax jail, was Mr. James Lov- 
ell of Eoston, a gentleman emdnent for his 
learning and character, who, after his re- 
lease, was many years a member of the 
Continental Congress. His zeal in the cause 
of his country, and frankness in avowing 
his sentiments, had made him an object of 
suspicion and odium to the British com- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 181 

mander in Boston, where he was first im- 
prisoned ; and, when that city was evacuat- 
ed, he was carried into captivity, and locked 
up in the jail of Halifax in the same apart- 
ment with prisoners of the lowest class. 

There were now together four American 
officers, besides Mr. Lovell, who, by the cus- 
tom of war and the practice then existing 
in regard to British prisoners taken by the 
Americans, had a right to their parole ; but 
this was never granted. They were kept in 
close confinement till orders came from Gen- 
eral Howe to send them to New York. Par- 
tial negotiations had commenced between 
General Washington and General Howe for 
tb.e exchange of prisoners, and certain prin- 
ciples had been laid down, by the mutual a- 
greement of the parties, as a basis upon 
which to proceed. Moreover Congress had 
instructed General Washington to make a 
special application in favor of Mr. Lovell 
and Colonel Allen, proposing to exchange 
Governor Skene for the former, and an offi- 
cer of equal rank for the latter. The leg- 
islature of Connecticut had also interfered 
in behalf of Allen, and eighteen of the pris- 
oners taken with him, who were natives of 
that State, and solicited Congress and the 
Commander-in-chief to use all practicable 
means for effecting their release. The same 



182 MEMOm OE 

had been done bj tbe Massachusetts legis- 
lature in the case of Mr. Lovell. 

After the intelligence of Allen's being in 
Halifax reached his friends, a project was 
formed by his brother, Levi Allen, to visit 
him there and attempt to procure his liber- 
ty. The State of Connecticut voted rnoney 
to pay the expense of this enterprise, but 
the arrival of the prisoners in New York 
rendered it unnecessary. 

The Lark frigate, on board of which were 
Mr. Lovell, Colonel Allen, and their com- 
panions, sailed from Halifax about the mid- 
dle of October. Luckily they found them- 
selves at last under an officer. Captain 
Smith, who treated them with the politeness 
of a gentleman, and with the feelings of a 
man capable of sympathizing in the distress- 
es of the unfortunate. The first interview 
is thus described by Colonel Allen. " When 
I came on deck, he met me with his hand, 
welcomed me to his ship, invited me to dine 
with him that day, and assured me that I 
should be treated as a gentleman, and that 
he had given orders that I should be treat- 
ed with respect by the ship's crew. This 
was so unexpected and sudden a transition, 
that it drew tears from my eyes, which all 
the ill usages I had before met with were 
not able to produce ; nor could I at first 



ETHAN ALLEN. 183 

hardly speak, but soon recovered myself, 
and expressed my gratitude for so unexpect- 
ed a favor, and let him know, that I felt anx- 
iety of mind in reflecting, that his situation 
and mine was such, that it was not probable 
it would ever be in my power to return the 
favor. Captain Smith replied, that he had 
no reward in view, but only treated me as a 
gentleman ought to be treated. He said, 
this is a mutable world, and one gentleman 
never knows but it may be in his power to 
help another." 

An opportunity soon occurred of verify- 
ing this last remark. They had not been at 
sea many days, when it was discovered that 
a conspiracy was on foot to destroy the cap- 
tain and the principal officers, and seize the 
ship. An American captain, who had com- 
manded an armed vessel, and been recently 
taken prisoner, was the chief conspirator. 
He revealed his designs to Colonel Allen, 
and Mr. Lovell, requesting their co-opera- 
tion in bringing over the other prisoners, a- 
bout thirty in number, and telling them that 
several of the crew were ready to join in 
the plot. It was known that there were 
thirty-five thousand pounds in money on 
board, and the plan of the conspiracy was 
to take the ship into an American port, 
where they expected to divide the booty ac- 



184 MEMOIR OF 

cording to the usual rules of captures^ 
Without waiting to discuss the laws of war y 
or to reason about the infamy and criminal- 
ity of such an act with men, who were pre- 
pared to execute it, Colonel Allen declared 
with his usual decision and vehemence, that 
he would not listen a moment to such a 
scheme, that, in its mildest character, it was 
a base and wicked return for the kind treat- 
ment they had received, and that he would 
at every personal hazard defend Captain 
Smith's life. This rebuff was unexpected 
by the conspirators, and it threw them into 
a distressing dilemma, since the fear of de- 
tection was now as appalling to them as the 
danger of their original enterprise. Thej 
then requested him to remain neutral, and 
let them proceed in their own way, but this 
he peremptorily refused ; and he finally suc- 
ceeded in quelling their conspiracy, by ad- 
hering to his resolution, and promising, that 
as he had been consulted in confidence, he 
would not divulge the matter, if the leaders 
would pledge themselves instantly to aban- 
don the design. In the present state of 
things they were glad to accept such terms. 
At the conclusion of this affair Colonel Al- 
ien was forcibly reminded of the words of 
Captain Smith. 
Before the end of October the Lark frig- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 185 

ate anchored in tlie harbor of New York, 
and the prisoners were removed to the Glas- 
gow transport. Mr. Lovell was exchanged 
in a few days for Governor Skene ; and Co- 
lonel Allen, after remaining four or five 
weeks in the transport, where he met with 
very civil usage, was landed in New York 
and admitted to his parole. Here he had 
an opportunity of witnessing the wretched 
condition and extreme sufferings of the A- 
merican prisoners, who had been taken in 
the battle of Long Island and at Fort Wash- 
ington, and who were left to perish of hun- 
ger, cold, and sickness in the | churches of 
New York. He speaks of these scenes as 
the most painful and revolting, that could 
be conceived. Indeed numerous concur- 
ring testimonies have estabhshed it as a fact 
of which not a shadow of doubt can now be 
entertained, that human misery has seldom 
been seen in such heart-xending forms or un- 
der circumstances so aggravating. The mo- 
tives of the enemy for practising or permit- 
ting cruelties so little consonant to the 
dictates of humanity, the customs of civil- 
ized warfare, and every principle of sound 
pohcy, are not a fit theme of inquiry in this 
narrative. The fact itself is an indelible 
stain, deep and dark, in the character of 
Sir William Howe, which no array of pri^ 



186 MEMOIR OP 

vate virfcues, of military talents, or public 
acts, will hide or obscure. The picture 
drawn by Allen, colored as it may be by the 
ardor of his feehngs, is vivid and impres- 
sive, and its accuracy is confirmed by the 
declarations of several other persons, who 
also related what they saw. 

While he was on his parole in iSTew York, 
a British officer of rank and importance sent 
for him to his lodgings and told him that his 
fidelity, though in a wrong cause, had made 
an impression upon General Howe, who was 
disposed to show him a favor, and to ad- 
vance him to the command of a regiment of 
loyalists, if he would join the service, hold- 
ing out tofhim at the same time briUiant 
prospects of promotion and money during 
the war, and large tracts of land at its close. 
Allen replied, " that if by faithfulness he 
had recommended himself to General Howe, 
he should be loth by unfaithfulness to lose 
the general's good opinion;" and as to the 
lands, he was by no means satisfied, that the 
King would possess a sufficient quantity in 
the United States at the end of the war to 
redeem any pledges on that score. The of- 
ficer sent him away as an incorrigible and 
hopeless subject. 

In the month of January, 1777, he was 
.directed with other prisoners to take up his 



ETHAN ALLEN. 187 

abode on the western side of Long Island, 
being still on parole, and allowed, the usual 
freedom under such circumstances within 
certain prescribed hmits. Here he remain- 
ed in a condition of comparative comfort till 
August, when he was suddenly apprehend- 
ed, environed with guards, conducted to the 
proYOst-jail in New York, and put into soli- 
tary confinement. This act was on the pre- 
tence of his having infringed his parole, 
which he affirmed was untrue, and the whole 
proceeding unjust and malicious. But the 
cause was now of little moment, since he was 
chiefly concerned with the effect. For the 
space of three days he was immured in 
Ins cell without a morsel of food. The ser- 
geant, who stood at the door, refused to be 
removed by offers of money or appeals to 
his compassion, and repelled every advance 
with a soldier's oath and the brief reply, 
that he would obey his orders. The pains 
of hunger became extreme, but they were 
at last assuaged ; and in a few days he was 
transferred to another apartment of the jail, 
where he found himself in company with 
more than twenty American officers. 

From this place he was not removed till 
the end of his captivity. After being shut 
up for more than eight months in the pro- 
YOst-jaU,- a. confinement of which the prison- 



188 MEMOIE OF 

ers were ever accustomed to speak with dis- 
gust and horror, the day of hberty dawned 
upon him. 

Neither his countrymen generally, nor 
the supreme council of the nation, had at a- 
ny time lost sight of his sufferings, or ceased 
to express their sympathy. Congress had 
on several occasions proposed his exchange; 
but it was prevented after his arrival in New 
York by the difficulties, which embarrassed 
and defeated all attempts for effecting a gen- 
eral cartel between Washington and Howe. 
It was finally agreed, that he should be ex- 
changed for Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell ; 
and on the 3d of May, 1778, he was taken 
from prison and conducted under guard to 
a sloop in the harbor, and thence to Staten 
Island. Here he was politely received by 
the British commander, and kindly treated 
for two days, when Colonel Campbell arriv- 
ed from Elizabethtown, under the charge of 
Mr. Elias Boudinot, the American Commis- 
sary-General of prisoners. It may easily 
be conceived that the meeting was one of 
mutual congratulation and joy. The two re- 
leased captives drank a glass of wine to- 
gether in celebration of the event, and Co- 
lonel Allen returned immediately with Mr. 
Boudinot to Ehzabethtown. 

His feelings, on once more touching the 



ETHAN ALLEN. 189 

soil and breathing the air of freedom, will 
be left to the imagination of the reader. 
He was now restored to his country, the ob- 
ject of a patriotic devotion, that neither the 
cruelty nor the enticements of the enemy 
could diminish ; in whose cause he had suf- 
fered a captivity of two years and seven 
months, under all the rigor of chains, hun- 
ger, and harsh usage. Insensibihty made 
no part of his nature, and the soul must be 
callous indeed, that would not thrill with e- 
motion at the recollections of the past, the 
realities of the present, and the visions of 
the future, that now thronged upon his 
mind. 

Notwithstanding the strong associations 
and tender ties, which drew hin^ towards his 
home and friends, the impulse of gratitude 
■was the first he obeyed. The lively interest 
taken in his condition by the Commander- 
in-chief, and his efforts to procure his release, 
were known to him, and he resolved to re- 
pair without delay to head-quarterl, and ex- 
press in person his sense of the obHgation. 
The army was at Valley Forge, and as he 
advanced into the country on his way to 
that place, he was everywhere greeted by 
the people with demonstrations of strong in- 
terest, not unmixed with curiosity at seeing 
a man, the incidents of whose life had given 



190 MEMOIR OF 

him renown, and whose fate while in the- 
hands of the enemy had been a subject of 
public concern. General Washington re- 
ceived him cordially, and introduced him to 
the principal officers in camp, who showed 
him many civilities. 

Having thus discharged a duty, which he 
believed to be demanded by justice and 
gratitude as the first fruit of his liberty,and 
having remained a few days only at Valley 
Forge, he turned his face towards the Green 
Mountains, and hastened to join his family 
and former associates. From Valley Forge 
to Fishkill he travelled in company with Gen- 
eral Gates, who was proceeding to take com- 
mand, of the army on North River. In the 
evening of the last day of May, Colonel Al- 
len arrived in Bennington, unexpected at 
that time hj his friends, and a general sen- 
sation was immediately spread throughout 
the neighborhood. The people gathered ar 
round l^m, and, v/ith a dehght which could" 
be reahzed Only under circumstances so pe- 
culiar, he witnessed the joy that beamed 
from every countenance, and heard the ac- 
cents of a hearty welcome uttered by ever^^ 
voice. It was a season of festivity with the 
Green Mountain Boys, and the same even- 
ing three cannon were fired, as an audible 
expression of their gladness. Nor did the 



ETfl'AN ALLEN. 191 

scene of hilarity end -with that day. The 
next mornmg Colonel Herrick, -who had dis- 
tinguished himself by his bravery under the 
veteran Stark in the battle of Bennington^ 
ordered fourteen discharges of cannon, 
" thirteen for the United" States and one for 
young Vermont," as a renewed and more 
ample compHment to the early champion 
and faithful associate of the Green Moun- 
tain Boys. 

Congress was equally mindful of the ser- 
vices and of the just claims of Colonel Al; 
len. As soon as he was released from cap- 
tivity, they granted him Oj brevet commissioix 
of colonel in the Continental army, "in re- 
ward of his fortitude, firmness, and zeal in 
the cause of his country, manifested during 
the course of his long and cruel captivity, as 
well as on former occasions." It was more- 
over resolved, that he should be entitled, du- 
ring the time he was a prisoner, to all the 
benefits and privileges cf a Heutenant-colo- 
nel in the service of the United States. 
That is, he was to receive the pay and oth- 
er emoluments of that rank. As the bre- 
vet commission of colonel did not entitle 
him to pay, he was allowed seventy-five dol- 
lars a month from the date of that commis- 
sion, till he should be called into actual ser- 
vice. How long this allowance was contin- 



192 MEMOIR OP 

tied, I have no means of ascertaining. It 
does not appear, tliat he ever joined the Con- 
tinental armj. From the above proofs, how- 
ever, it is evident, that the proceedings of 
Congress in regard to him were generous 
and honorable, manifesting at the same time 
a proper sense of his past sufferings, and re- 
spect for his character. 

During his absence, important changes 
had taken place in the affairs of the New 
Hampshire Grants. The inhabitants had 
made a gradual progress in maturing and es- 
tablishing a new form of government, hav- 
ing declared their territory an independent 
State, under the name of Vermont, framed 
and adopted a new constitution, and organ- 
ized the various branches of government by 
the election of a governor and other civil of- 
ficers. In effecting these objects they had 
encountered numerous obstacles, both from 
the internal distractions caused by the inva- 
sion of Burgoyne's army, and from the mach- 
inations and adverse inifluence of external 
foes. The embers of the old feud with New .*, 
York were stirred up afresh, when the peo- 
ple of Vermont presumed to talk of inde- 
pendence and a separation from that State. 
Governor Chnton, and several other prom- 
inent individuals in New York, had been 
warmly enlisted at an early day against the 



ETHAN ALLEN. 19S 

pretensions of the Green Motititain Boys ; 
iind although they were far from abetting 
or vindicating the rash measures of the col- 
onial administration, yet they were strenu- 
ous in asserting the supremacy of New York 
over the whole territory aa far as Connect- 
icut River, and in demandmg from the peo- 
ple an obedience to the laws of that State. 
Iienc^3 it followed, that the controversy was 
only narrowed in its e55:tent, but not at all 
changed in its principles. 

Ethan Allen arrived just in time to buckle 
on his armor, and enter with renovated vig- 
or into a contest, in which he had" been 
so conspicuous and successful a combatant 
from its very beginning, and mth all the 
tactics of which he was perfectly familiar. 
Governor CHnton, by the authority of the 
New York Legislature, had recently sent 
out a proclamation, reprobating and annul- 
ling the bloody statute heretofore mention- 
ed, acknowledging that attempts contrary to 
justice and policy had been made to dispos- 
sess the original patentees of their lands-, 
and putting forth certain overtures for a re- 
conciliation of differences, but taking care 
to assert the absolute power of New York 
over the persons and property of ?uch, as 
did not choose to accept these pjroposals. 
According to the tenor of these ovei'hitfes, 

13 



194 MEMom OF 

the patents of the governor of New Hamp- 
shire were all to be confirmed, but a con- 
tinuance of the quit-rents was claimed from 
the purchasers, as under the colonial sys- 
tem, and the unsettled lands were reserved 
as the property of the State. 

The grand feature of the proclamation 
was the assumption of supremacy, and this 
was the point most essential to the people of 
Vermont, since it struck at the root of their 
political existence. The overtures were 
aressed up in such a manner, as to have a 
plausible appearance, and to be likely to 
lead astray those persons, who thought less 
of preserving their political rights, than of 
the immediate security of their possessions. 
The more wise and wary, however, took the 
alarm, and among these was Ethan Allen. 
He saw a fatal danger lurking beneath a 
show of proiFered indulgences and fair pro- 
fessions. The cautious Trojan distrusted 
the Greeks even in their acts of apparent 
generosity ; and the leader of the Green 
Mountain Boys looked with an eye of equal 
suspicion on the spontaneous advances of 
the New Yorkers. In short, every propo- 
sal, come from what quarter it might, which 
did not imply the entire independence of 
Vermont as a separate State and govern- 



ETHAN .ALLEN. 195 

ffient, was in his view to be disdained and 
repelled. 

In this spirit he wrote an address to the 
inhabitants of Vermont, stating briefly the 
.grounds of their claims to the privilege of 
self-govemment, and exhorting them not to 
relax for a moment in their efforts to attain 
the end for which they had struggled so 
long and so hard. A large part of his ad- 
dress w-as taken up in animadverting on 
Governor Clinton's proclamation, in which, 
as with a good deal of ingenuity and force 
he made it appear, the overtures of New 
¥ork held out to them nothing which they 
did not already possess, and would deprive 
them of the dearest of earthly treasunes, 
their liberty^ His arguments and his mode 
of stating them were suited to the people, 
whom he addressed j and without doubt 
produced the desired effect of confirming 
their confidence in themselves, and inciting 
them to union and perseverance. 

Sometimes he touches on personal inci- 
dents. Alkd^g to the bloody act of pro- 
scription, which had been passed under 
Governor Tryon, he observes ; " In the life- 
time of that act I was called by the York- 
ers an outlaw ; and afterwards by the Brit- 
ish I was called a rebel ; and I humbly con- 
ceive, that there was as much propriety in 



196 MEMOIR OF 

the one name as the other ; and I verily 
beheve, that the King's commissioners would 
now be as wilHng to pardon for the sin of 
rebelHon, provided I would afterwards b e 
subject to Britain, as the legislature above 
mentioned, provided I would be subject to 
"New York ; and I must confess I had as lief 
be a subject of the one as the other, and it 
is well known I have had great experience 
with them both." 

In liis concluding remarks on the over- 
tures in the proclamation he says, still ad- 
dressing himself to the people ; " The main 
inducement I had in answering them was, to 
draw a full and convincing proof from the 
same, that the shortest, best, and most elig- 
ible, I had almost said the only possible^ 
way of vacating those New York interfer- 
ing grants, is to maintain inviolable the Su- 
premacy of the legislative authority of the 
independent State of Vermont. This, at 
one stroke, overturns every New York 
scheme, which may be calculated for our 
ruin, makes us freemen, confirms our prop- 
erty, and puts it fairly in our power to help 
ourselves in the enjoyment of the great bless- 
ings of a free, uncorrupted, and virtuous civ- 
il government. You have fought, bled, and 
hitherto conquered, and are as deserving of 
those good fruits of your valor, hazard, 



ETHAN ALLEN. 197 

and toil, as any people under heaven. 

" You have experienced every species of 
oppression, which the old government of New 
York, with a Tryon at their head, could in- 
vent and inflict ; and it is manifest, that the 
new government are minded to follow in 
their steps. Happy is it for you, that you 
are fitted for the severest trials. You have 
been wonderfully supported and carried 
through thus far in your opposition to that 
government. Formerly you had every thing 
to fear from it ; but now, you have little to 
fear, for your public character is establisheel, 
and your cause known to be just. In your 
early struggles with that government you 
acquired a reputation of bravery ; this gave 
you a relish for martial glory, and the Brit- 
ish invasion opened an ample field for its dis- 
play, and you have gone on conquering and 
to conquer until tall grenadiers are dismay- 
ed and tremble at your approach, l^our 
frontier situation often obliges you to be in 
arms and battles ; and by repeated march- 
in*g, scoutings, and manly exercises, your 
nerves have become strong to strike the mor- 
tal blow. What enemy of the State of Ver- 
mont, or what New Y^ork land-monopolizer, 
shall be able to stand before you in the day 
of your fierce anger !" 

By harangues like this, abounding more 



198 MEMOIR OP 

in strong expressions, than in good taste or 
a graceful diction, he wrought upon the minds 
of the people, and inclined them to his wish- 
es. But it should he said to his praise, con- 
sidering the scenes he passed through, that 
on no occasion did he encourage or counten- 
ance laxness in government, or disobedience 
to the laws and magistrates, recognised as 
such by the people themselves. " Any 
one," he remarks, "• who is acquainted with 
mankind and things, must know, that it is 
impossible to manage the political matters of 
this country without the assistance of civil 
government. A large body of people des- 
titute of it, is like a ship at sea, without a 
helm or mariner, tossed by the impetuous 
waves. We could not enjoy domestic peace 
and security, set aside the consequences of 
a British war and the New York strife, with- 
out civil regulations. The two last consid- 
erations do, in the most striking manner, ex- 
cite us to strengthen and confirm the gov- 
ernment already set up by the authority of 
the people, which is the fountain of all tem- 
poral power, and from which the subjects of 
the State of Vermont have already received 
such signal advantages." These sentiments 
he avowed repeatedly, and even when he was 
stirring up and leading out the mobs of Ben- 
nington, he alw'ays declared it was in self- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 199 

defence, the result of a necessity forced up- 
on them by their enemies ; and he never 
ceased to recommend order, good faith, and 
submission to the laws, as essential to the 
prosperity and happiness of the community. 
We here discover, in fact, the explanation 
of the successful progress of the people in 
rearing up a political fabric, which became 
solid and durable, although for-several years 
they were apparently in a state of confu- 
sion, if not of anarchy. But this was more 
in appearance than reality. Tlvere were no 
internal broils or conamotions, that in any 
degree disturbed the general order of soci- 
ety. United in one great object of resisting 
a common foe, and impelled by the same in- 
terests and aims, they had few motives for 
dissensions among themselves ; and this un- 
nion not only pointed out the necessity of 
rules of government, but afforded opportu- 
nities to frame and adopt them in such a 
manner, that they w'ere acceptable and effi- 
cient. The inhabitants of the Grants were 
mostly natives of the New England colonies., 
and possessed a similarity in their sentiments 
and habits, which enabled them ot harmon- 
ize the more easily in regulating public con 
cems. 

Committees of safety and conventions 
were the contrivances to which they resorted 



200 MEMOIR OF 

for setting in motion and sustaining the ma^ 
chmery of government. These ^yere or- 
ganized on the strictest republican princi- 
ples, being created and constituted by the 
people themselves, acting at first voluntari- 
ly in their individual capacity, and agreeing 
to be controlled by the voice of a majority. 
Upon this basis the committees were intrust- 
ed with all the power requisite to form reg> 
ulations for local purposes. The conventions 
attained the same objects in a broader sphere, 
and with higher authority. The system was 
peculiarly felicitous in being adapted to com- 
munities of every description, and to small 
numbers as well as large. Its principles 
were likewise the elements of the best con- 
structed governments ; and hence the peo- 
ple were gradually trained up in the art of 
self-control, and qualified to assume and 
maintain the character of an independent 
State, even while embarrassed by the hostil- 
ity and interference of the neighboring pow- 
ers. It is remarkable, that the plan of con- 
ventions and committees, which was adopted 
by all the States at the beginning of the 
Revolution, had previously been eight years 
in practice among the first settlers of Ver- 
mont. 

Considering the part, which Ethan Allen 
had acted before his captivity, and the coi\- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 201; 

sistency of his conduct, it was to be expect- 
ed, that he TVould embark with liis accus- 
tomed zeal in a cause, -vyhich had now ac- 
quired a new importance, and especially as 
it was still involved in the old quarrel with 
New York. As his countrymen had not for- 
gotten the military rank to which they raised 
him in the season of their former perils, nor 
the services he rendered at the head of the 
Green Mountain Boys, and were disposed 
to profit again by his sword, as well as by 
his pen and his counsels, he was, soon after 
his return, appointed a general and com- 
mander of the militia of the State. A 
stronger proof of the coi:ifidence could not 
have been shown, more particularly at this 
time, when an invasion of the British from 
Canada might at any moment be apprehend- 
ed, and when the delicate relations subsist- 
ing between Vermont and two adjoining 
States threatened an ultimate resort to arms 
as a possible consequence, either to quell 
internal factions, or to resist aggressions from 
abroad. 

Meantime an incident occurred, which en- 
cumbered the afiairs of Vermont with other 
difficulties. For certain pohtical reasons, 
sixteen townships in the western parts of 
]^ew Hampshire, bordering on Connecticut, 
river, formed a combination to desert from 



202 MEMOIR OF 

that State and join themselves to Vermont. 
They sent a petition for that purpose to th© 
Vermont legislature ; but it was at first no 
farther acted upon than to refer it to the 
people. At the next meetmg of the legis- 
lature it was found, that a majority of the 
legal voters was in favor of admitting the 
sixteen townships. Hence a new enemy 
was raised up, and the field of discord €fn- 
larged. The governor of New Hampshire 
wrote a spirited protest to the governor of 
Vermont, claiming the sixteen townships as 
a part of that State, and deprecating such 
an unwarrantable dismemberment. He wrote 
at the same time to the Contuiental Con- 
gress, demanding their interference in a mat>- 
ter of vital moment, not only to New Hamp- 
shire, but to every State in the Union, 
should such a disorganizing act be tolerated 
as a precedent. 

The Vermont Assembly saw their error 
too late to retract it, since they had referred 
the subject to the people, and were bound to 
abide by their decision. To set the thing in 
as fair a fight as it would bear, however, 
they appointed General Allen a special a- 
gent to proceed to Philadelphia, and explain 
to Congress this point and others requiring 
explanation, and endeavor as far as possible 
to ascertain the views of the members in re- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 203 

.gard to tlie independence of Vermont, and 
what -was to be expected from the future de- 
liberations of that body. 

Furnished with proper instructions, Gen- 
eral Allen repaired to Phikdelphia, and ap- 
plied himself to tha_ duties of his mission. 
He soon discovered the undertaking to be 
surrounded with more difficulties, than he 
had anticipated. Distinct from the abso- 
lute merits of the case, there were in Con- 
gress party divisions, emanating from vari- 
ous sources, which prevented any union of 
action or sentiment on the subject of Ver- 
mont. The New England members were 
mostly in favor of granting independence. 
This was not less the dictate of sound poli- 
cy, than of the natural feehngs of attach- 
ment to people closely allied to themselves 
and their constituents. Another State in 
the bosom of New England would of course 
strengthen the power and influence of the 
whole in the general scale. It was to be 
presumed, therefore, that the New England 
States would second the claims of Vermont ; 
nor was this presumption weakened by any 
hereditary good will, that had formerly ex- 
isted between those States and New York. 

Unfortunately New Hampshire, for the 
reasons above stated, had been induced to 
deviate from the line of her neighbors, un- 



204 MEMOIE OF 

der the apprehension t^t her interests were 
in jeopardj. She was indeed meditating 
ambitious projects of her own, and forming 
a design to defeat the pretensions of Ver- 
mont, by extending her jurisdiction as far 
as Lake Champlain, and drawing the whole 
territory within her Umits. She thus placed 
herself in rivalship with New York, in hos- 
tihty to Vermont, and at variance with the 
other adjoining States. 

Taking these considerations into view, 
and the known enmity of the New York 
members, General Allen's prospects of car- 
rying back a satisfactory report to his friends 
were faint and discouraging. The southern 
delegates were different, or only adhered to 
one side or the other as a means of exert- 
ing a party influence. It is doubtless true, 
also, that several members were conscien- 
tiously opposed to any decision by Congress, 
behoving the question not to come within 
the powers intrusted to that assembly. 
They argued, that the subject could not 
rightfully be brought before them in any 
shape, except in obedience to special instrac- 
tions from the respective States. Others 
again denied the power of Congress to in- 
terfere at all, affirming that Vermont was 
in fact independent, and had a right to set 
up such a scheme of government as she 



ETHAN ALLEN. 205 

cKose. This was a short mode of settling 
the controversy, but it would hardly satisfy 
the scruples of New York, or the aspiring 
hopes of New Hampshire. 

•On his return from this mission, General 
Allen presented a report to the legislature 
of Vermont, containing the result of his ob- 
'servations, in wliich he gave it as his opin- 
ion, " that the New York complaints would 
never prove of sufficient force in Congress 
to prevent the estabhshment of the State of 
Vermont," and advised the legislature by 
all means to recede from the union with 
the SLxten townships, since it could never be 
approved by Congi-ess without violating the 
articles of confederation, by which the rights 
and original extent of each State were g-uar- 
antied. On this topic he spoke with deci- 
sion and force. 

In addition to the general objects of his 
mission, the visit to Congress was not with- 
aut advantage to himself and his constitu- 
ents. It made him intimately acquainted 
with the views of the delegates in Congress., 
and with the arguments used by various in- 
dividuals and parties. He ascertained like- 
wise how far policy and individual bias on the 
one hand, and a regard for the absolute mer- 
its of the question on the other, operated in 
giving a complexion to the national councils. 



206 MEMOIR OF 

This knowledge had an important infiu» 
ence on the future proceedings of Vermont, 
General Allen turned it to an immediate ac- 
count, and he wrote a treatise vindicating 
the course hitherto pursued by Vermont, 
and maintaining the justice of her claim to 
set up such a form of government, as the^ 
people themselves should judge most condu- 
cive to their prosperity and happiness.* Mr. 
Jaj said of this book, in writing to a mem- 
ber of Congress when it first appeared, 
" There is a quaintness, impudence, and art 
in it." He might have added, argument 
and the evidences of a good cause. 

In these unwearied labors for the defence 
of the rights and dignity of the State, and 
in superintending its military affairs as com- 
mander of the militia. General Allen's time 
was fully employed. It was at this period, 
that the, British generals in America began 
to meditate the scheme of bringing Vermont 
into a union with Canada, by taking advan- 
tage of th^ disputes, which had continued 
so long and waxed so warm, that it was*sup- 
posed Vermont had become alienated from 
Congress and the opposing States, and would 

*The tract was entitled, A Vindication of the Opposi- 
tion of the Inhabitants of Vermortt to the Govemirnerd of New 
York, and of their Right to form an Independent State. 
It was published in 1779, by order of the Governor 
and Council, or with their approbation. 



ETHAN ALLEN. 20T 

be ready "fc accept tempting overtures from 
the British. Tliis idea received encourage- 
ment from the circumstance, that Congress 
afforded but ^ a slender defence to the fron- 
tiers of Vett-mont, although the governor of 
Canada was in condition to make a descent 
•with a force sufficient to bear down any op- 
position, that could be interposed by the 
whole strength of the State. The first 
step was to bring over some of the leaders^; 
and as Ethan Allen was the most conspicu- 
ous of these, and also the mihtary chieftain, 
the attempt was made upon him. That his 
views might be ascertained on this subject, 
the following letter was written to him by 
Beverly Robinson, colonel of a regiment of 
loyal Americans, or, in other words, refu- 
gees adhering to the British cause and em- 
bodied in the British army. 

New York, March SOth, 1780. 
" Sir, 
. " I am now undertaking a task, wliich I 
hope you will receive with the same good in- 
tention, that inclines me to make it. I have 
often been informed, that you and most of 
the inhabitants of Vermont are opposed to 
the wild and chimerical scheme of the Amer- 
icans, in attempting to separate this conti- 
nent from Great Britain, and to establish an 



20S iVIEMOlR OF 

independent State of their own ; and tliat 
you would willingly assist in uniting Amerl" 
ca again to Great Britain, and restoring 
tiiat happy constitution we have so wanton- 
ly and unadvisedly destroyed. If I have 
been rightly informed, and these should be 
your sentiments and inclination, I beg you 
will communicate to me without reserve 
whatever proposals you would wish to make 
to the Commander-in-chief, and I here prom- 
ise that I will faithfully lay them before him 
according to your directions, and I flatter 
myself I can do it to as good effect as any 
person whatever. I can make no proposals 
to you until I know your sentiments ; but I 
think, upon your taking an active part, and 
embodying the inhabitants of Vermont in fa- 
vor of the crown of England to act as the 
Commander-in-chief shall du-ect, that you 
may obtain a separate government under the 
King and constitution of England, and the 
men be formed into regiments under such of- 
iiceisi as you shall recommend, and be on the 
same footing as all the provincial corps are 
here. 

" I am an American myself, and feel much 
for the distressed situation my }X)or country 
is in at present, and am anxious to be ser- 
viceable toward restoring it to peace, and 
that mild and good government we have 



ETHAN ALLEN. 209 

lost. I have therefore ventured to address 
myself to you on this subject, and I hope 
you will see it in a proper light, and be as 
candid with me. I am incUnable to think, 
that one reason why this unnatural war has 
continued so long is, that all the Americans, 
who wish and think it would be for the inter- 
est of this country to have a constitutional 
and equitable connexion with Great Britain, 
do not communicate their sentiments to each 
other so often and so freely as they ought 
to do. 

" In case you should disapprove of my 
hinting these things to you, and do not choose 
to make any proposals to government, I hope 
you will not suffer any insult to be offered to 
the bearer of this letter ; but allow him to 
return in safety, as I can assure you he is 
entirely ignorant of its contents ; but if you 
should think it proper to send proposals to 
me, to be laid before the Commander-in- 
chief, I do now give you my word, that, if 
they are not accepted, or complied with by 
him, of which I will inform you, the matter 
shall be buried in oblivion between us. I 
will only add, that if you should think prop- 
er to send a friend of your o^vn here, ^ith 
proposals to the general, he shall be protect- 
ed and well treated here, and allowed to re- 

14 



210 MEMOIR OF 

turn whenever he pleases. I can add noth- 
ing further at present, but my best wishes 
for the restoration of the peace and happi- 
ness of America. I am, &c. 

" Beverly Robinson." 

This letter, artful and plausible as it was, 
made no impression upon the patriotism of 
Ethan Allen. Although written in Februa- 
ry it was not received till July. He imme- 
diately sent back the messenger, and in con- 
fidence communicDted the letter to the gov- 
ernor rjid a few other friends, who all agreed 
with him, that it was best to pass it over in 
silence. That they might not be outdone, 
however, in the allowable stratagems of war, 
they bethought themselves to turn to a prof- 
itable purpose this advance on the part of 
the enemy. The British were expected soon 
to appear on Lake Champlain in great force, 
and it was a thing of essential importance 
in the present difficult condition of Vermont, 
to ward off the impending danger. Several 
prisoners from this State were now in Cana- 
da, and it was advised that the governor 
should write to the commander in Canada, 
proposing a cartel for an exchange. A let- 
ter was written accordingly despatched with 
a flag. The object was to produce delay, 
and by a finesse to lead the enemy to pursue 



ETHAN ALLEN.. 211 

their ideas of drawing Vermont over to 
their interest. While this should be foster- 
ed, it was not probable thej would attack the 
people, whom they wished to conciliate. 

No answer was returned, till the enemy's 
fle et was seen coming up the Lake in a for- 
midable attitude, spreading an alarm far and 
wide, and apparently threatening an imme- 
diate invasion. Many persons took their 
arms and marched to the frontier. But no 
hostile acts were committed. The command- 
er on board the fleet sent a flag to General 
Allen, with a letter to the governor of Ver- 
mont, assenting on the part of General Hal- 
dimand, commander-in-chief of the British 
army in Canada, to the proposal for an ex- 
change of prisoners, and offering a truce 
with Vermont till the cartel should be ar- 
ranged. 

This preliminary negotiation of a truce 
was conducted by General Allen. In de- 
fining the extent of territory ,which the truce 
sliould cover, he included all the settlements 
as far west as the Hudson Biver. To this 
extension the British objected, as not being 
within the bounds of Vermont. Such an ar- 
rangement would moreover prevent the ex- 
pedition up the Lake from acquiring honor, 
or attaining any ostensible object; wh reas, 
if not hampered with the truce, it might act 



212 MEMOIE OF 

with some effect on the frontiers of New 
York. This was a strong motive for insist- 
ing, that the truce should be confined strictly 
within the Hmits of Vermont, but as Gener- 
al Allen was unyielding, the officer gave way, 
and it was definitelv settled as reaching to 
Hudson^s Kiver. This was a dictate of 
sound policy, as appeared in the subsequent 
history of Vermont. It had a conciliatory 
effect upon the inhabitants of that part of 
New York included in the truce. Their an- 
tipathy was disarmed, and at one time they 
even courted a union with Vermont. 

As this was a secret arrangement, and not 
then made known publicly, the people were 
surprised to see the fleet retreating down the 
Lake, and the military disbanded and going 
home. Commissioners were appointed by 
the governor of Vermont to meet others 
from Canada, and settle the terms of a car- 
tel. The season was so far advanced, how- 
ever, that they were obstructed in their voy- 
age across the Lake by the ice, and obhged 
to return. Nothing was done during the 
winter. The advantage thus far gained by* 
Vermont was, that a campaign of the ene- 
my on her borders had been rendered inef- 
fectual. As a compensation, the British 
supposed they had made good progress in de- 
taching from Congress the affections of a dis- 



ETHAN AMiEN. 218 

contented province, and -winning them over 
to the Kipg. 

As these transactions were well known to 
the enemy in New York, Colonel Robinson 
was concerned not to have received an an- 
swer to his letter. Thinking it might have 
miscarried, although he had sent a duphcate 
and triphcate, or assuming such a supposi- 
tion as a pretence for writing again, he des- 
patched a second letter to Ethan Allen, dat- 
ed February 2d, 1781. In this was enclos- 
ed a fourth copy of the first, and it contain- 
ed the following paragraph. 

'' The frequent accoiints we have had for 
three months past, from your part of the 
country, confirms me in the opinion I had 
of your inchnation to join the King's cause, 
and assist in restoring America to her for- 
mer peaceable and happy constitution. This 
induces me to make another trial in sending 
this to you, especially as I can now write 
with more authority, and assure you that 
you may obtain the terms mentioned in the 
above letter, provided you and the people of 
Yermont take an active part with us. I 
beg to have an answer to this as soon as pos- 
sible, and that you will, if it is your inten- 
tion, point out some method of carrying on 
a correspondence for the future ; also in 



214 MEMOIR OP 

what manner you can be most serviceable to 
government, either by acting with the north- 
ern army, or to meet and join an army from 
hence. I should be glad if you would give 
me every infonoaation, that may be useful 
to the Commander-in-chief here." 

Shortly after receiving this ^cond epistle, 
General Allen sent them both to the Conti- 
nental Congress, accompanied by one of his 
own, in which he expressed in very emphat- 
ical language his sentiments in regard to the 
interests of Vermont, and the unjustifiable 
attempts of the adjoining States to abridge 
her rights and even destroy her existence. 
Having explained the mode in which the let- 
ters came into his hands, and mentioned his 
having shown the first to Governor Chitten- 
den and other gentlemen, he proceeds as 
follows. 

" The result, after mature deliberation, 
and considering the extreme circumstances 
of the State, was, to take no further notice 
of the matter. The reasons for such a pro- 
cedure are very obvious to the people of this 
State, when they consider that Congress 
have previously claimed an exclusive right 
of arbitrating on the existence of Vermont, 
as a separate government ; New York, New 



ETHAN ALLEN. 215 

Hampshire, and Massachusetts Bay at the 
same time claiming this territory, either m 
whole or in part, and exerting their influence 
to make schisms among her citizens, there- 
by, in a considerable degree weakening this 
government, and exposing its inhabitants to 
the incursion of the British troops, and their 
savage allies from the province of Quebec. 
It seems those governments, regardless of 
Vermont's contiguous situation to Cana- 
da, do not consider that their northern fron- 
tiers have been secured by her, nor the mer- 
it of this State in a long and hazardous war; 
but have flattered themselves with the ex- 
pectation, that this State could not fail (with 
their help) to be desolated by a foreign ene- 
my, and that their exorbitant claims and av- 
aricious designs may at some future period 
take place in this district of country. 

" I am confident that Congress will not 
dispute my sincere attachment to the cause 
of my country, though I do not hesitate to 
say, I am fully grounded in opinion, that 
Vermont has an indubitable right to agree 
on terms of a cessation of hostihties with 
Great Britain, provided the United States 
persist in rejecting her application for a un- 
ion with them ; for Vermont, of all people, 
would be the most miserable, were she oblig- 



216 MEMOIR OP 

ed to defend the independence of the united 
claiming States, and they, at the same time, 
at full liberty to overturn and ruin the inde- 
pendence of Vermont. I am persuaded, 
when Congress consider the circumstances 
of this State, they -will be the more surpris- 
ed, that I have transmitted to them the en- 
closed letters, than that I have kept them in 
custody so long ; for I am as resolutely de- 
termined to defend the independence of Ver- 
mont, as Congress are that of the United 
States; and rather than fail, I will retire with 
hardy Green Mountain Boys into the deso- 
late caverns of the mountains, and wage war 
with human nature at large." 

The concluding words of this paragraph 
9iay be considered as characteristic of the 
writer ; but the sentiments expressed in the 
letter, respecting the allegiance due from 
Vermont to the United States, were unques- 
tionably entertained by all the principal men 
of that State. Independence was their 
first and determined purpose; and, while 
they were neglected by Congress, and, like 
another Poland, threatened with a triple par- 
tition between the adjoining States, they 
felt at liberty to .pursue any course, that 
would secure their safety, and conduct them 
towards their ultimate object. It was on 



ETHAN ALLEN. 217 

this principle, that they encouraged advances 
to be made by the British, and not that they 
ever had the remotest intention of deserting 
the cause of their country, or submitting in 
any manner to the jurisdiction of the Eng- 
lish government. 

While the war continued, however, these 
negotiations with the enemy were carried on 
with much address, and so successfully as to 
prevent any further hostilities from Canada. 
A correspondence was kept up, which was 
known only to a few persons, and was chief- 
ly managed by Ethan Alien and his brother 
Ira Allen. Messengers came to them se- 
cretly with letters, and waited in conceal- 
ment till consultations were held, and ans^ 
wers prepared, with which they returned to 
Canada. This was a slow process, but it 
served to amuse the enemy, and keep their 
hopes alive. While this could be done, Ver- 
mont was safe from attack, and had only to 
apprehend the artifices of those, who were 
striving by the weapons of the civil power to 
annihilate her freedom. 

The Enghsh ministry had at one time san- 
guine expectations from the prospect of af- 
feirs in this quarter. I have seen two let- 
ters from Lord Germain to Sir Henry CUn- 
ton, one written in February and the other 
iu June, 1781, wherein the minister congrat- 



218 MEMOIR OF 

ulates the commander-in-chief on the happy 
return of the people of Vermont to their al- 
legiance, and represents it as an important 
event. He adds, that, should Washington 
and the French meditate an irruption into 
Canada, they would find in Vermont an in- 
surmountable barrier to their attempts ; and 
also that General Haldimand would undoubt- 
edly send a body of troops to act in con- 
junction with the people, secure the avenues 
tlii'ough the country, and, when the season 
should admit, take possession of the upper 
parts of the Hudson and Connecticut Riv- 
ers, and cut off the communication between 
Albany and the Mohawk country. Again, 
he observes, that, should the people of Ver- 
mont be menaced by a detachment from 
Washington's army, General Haldimand 
would have forces ready to throw in among 
them, by which they would be relieved from 
any fears of the resentment of Congress, 
:and see it to be their wisest and safest course 
to return to their loyalty. Such were the 
vagaries of Lord George Germain in his of- 
fice at Whitehall, even within a few months 
of the capitulation at Yorktown. And in 
truth they present a very just specimen of 
the strange reveries, surprising ignorance, 
or wilful blindness of that minister, in regard 
to American affairs^ during the whole w-ar- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 219 

General Allen was not entirely occupied 
with the duties of his military station. At 
the next election after his return from cap- 
tivity, he was chosen a representative to the 
Assembly of his State. How long he con- 
tinued in pubhc life as a legislator, or how 
long he retained the active command of the 
militia, I have not been able to ascertain. 
When peace was restored, however, he seems 
to have resumed his agricultural habits, and 
devoted himself to his private affairs. He 
was a practical farmer, accustomed to labor 
with his own hands, and submit to the pri- 
vations and hardships, which necessarily at- 
tend the condition of pioneers in a new coun- 
try. 

In this retirement he published a work on 
a series of topics very different from those, 
which had heretofore employed his pen.* 
He says in the Preface, that he had been 
from ins youth addicted to contemplation, 
and had from time to time committed his 
thoughts to paper. This book purports to 
be the result of his lucubrations, revised, ar- 
ranged, and prepared with much labor for 
the press. In its literary execution it is 

* This book is entitled, Reason the only Oracle of 
Man, or a compendions System of Natural Religion. It 
was published at Bennington, in the year 1784. The 
preface is dated Julj 2d, 1782. 



220 MEMOIE OP 

much superior to any of his other writings ^ 
and was evidently elaborated with great pa- 
tience of thought and care in the composi- 
tion. It is nevertheless a crude and worth- 
less performance, in which truth and error, 
reason and sophistry, knowledge and ignor- 
ance, ingenuity and presumption, are min- 
gled together in a chaos, which the author 
denominates a system. Some of the chap- 
ters on natural religion, the being and attri- 
butes of God, aucl the principles and obli- 
gations of morality, should perhaps be ex- 
cepted from this sweeping remark ; for, al- 
though they contain little that is new, yet 
they are written in a tone, and express sen- 
timents, which may screen them from so 
heavy a censure. 

Founding religion on the attributes of the 
Deity and the nature of things, as interpret- 
ed by reason, the author takes it for granted, 
that there is no necessity for a revelation, 
and thence infers, that the Christian Revel- 
ation and miracles are false ; and he argues 
against the Old Testament upon the same 
principles. Historical facts and internal ev- 
idence, the only basis of correct reasoning 
on this subject, are passed over in silence. 
There is no proof that the author ever ex- 
amined them. It must be allowed, however, 
that he mistook some of the errors of Chris- 



ETHAN ALLEN. 221 

tian sects for the true doctrines of revealed 
religion, and that his views, as to the reality 
and nature of the system itself, were per- 
verted by this misapprehension. 

If we may judge, also, from various pas- 
sages in this book, some of his biographers 
have not done him strict justice in regard to 
his religious opinions. They have affirmed, 
that he behoved in the metempsychosis of 
the ancients, or the transmigration of souls 
after death into beasts, or fishes, and that 
" he often informed his friends, that he him- 
self expected to live again in the form of a 
large white horse." If he was absurd and 
frivolous enough to say such a thing in con- 
versation, he has certainly expressed very 
different sentiments in his writings. No 
person could declare more explicitly his be- 
lief in a future state of rewards and punish- 
ments, and a just retribution, than he has 
done in the following passages contained in 
this book. 

" We should so far divest onrselves," he 
observes, " of the incumbrances of this 
world, which are too apt to engross our at- 
tention, as to acquire a consistent system c^ 
the knowledge of our duty, and make it our 
constant endeavor in life to act conformably 
to it. The knowledge of tho being, porfeo- 



% 



222 MEMOIR OF 

tions, creation, and providence of God, and 
the immortality of our souls, is the founda- 
tion of our religion." Again, " As true as 
mankind now exist and are endowed with 
reason and understanding, and have the pow- 
er of agency and proficiency in moral good 
and evil, so true it is, that they must be ul- 
timately rewarded or punished according to 
their respective merits or demerits ; and it is 
as true as this world exists, and rational and 
accountable beings inhabit it, that the dis- 
tribution of justice therein is partial, une- 
qual, and uncertain; and it is consequently 
as true as that there is a God, that there 
must be a future state of existence, in which 
the disorder, injustice, oppression, and vi- 
ciousness, which are acted and transacted, 
by mankind in this life, shall be righteously 
adjusted, and the delinquents suitably pun- 
ished." 

To what extent these doctrines bear out 
the charge of a belief in the transmigration 
of souls, let the reader judge. 

After the publication of the above work, 
I have not found recorded any events in tlie 
lifa of Ethan Allen, which are sufficiently 
important to be commemorated ; unless it 
be the circumstance of his having been so- 
licited, by Shays and his associates, to take 



ETHAN ALLEN. 223'* 

Gommand of the insurgents in Massachusetts, 
He rejected the proposal with disdain, send- 
ing back the messengers who brought it, 
with a reprimand for their presumption, and 
at the same time writing a letter to the gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts, in which he ex- 
pressed his abhorrence of the insurrection, 
and assured the governor that his influence 
should be used to prevent any of its agents 
and abettors from receiving countenance or 
taking refuge in Vermont. This was con- 
formable to all his previous conduct ; for, 
notwithstanding the scenes of turbulence in 
which he was often engaged, it should be re- 
membered to his honor, that he was ever, in 
theory and practice, a firm supporter of civ- 
il government when founded in equity and 
the rights of the people. So rigid was he 
in his patriotism, that, when it was discover- 
ed that one of his brothers had avowed To- 
ry principles, and been guilty of a corres- 
pondence with the enemy, he entered a pub- 
lic complaint against him in his own name, 
and petitioned the court to confiscate his 
property in obedience to the laws of the 
State. 

Before the end of the war. General Al- 
len removed from JBennington, which had 
long been his place of residence. He was 
nest for a short time an inhabitant of Ar- 



224 MEMOIR OJf 

lington, afterwards of Sunderland, and final' 
ly he settled himself in the viciuity of On- 
ion River, where he and his brothers had 
purchased large tracts of land. He was 
twice married. His second wife, and chil- 
dren, by both marriages, survived him. 
Through life he possessed a robust constitu- 
tion, and uncommonly good health ; but his 
career was suddenly terminated by an apo- 
plexy, at Burhngton, in the year 1789. 

We have thus sketched the prmcipal in- 
cidents in the life of a man, who holds a 
place of some notoriety in the history of his 
time. His character was strongly marked^ 
both by its excellences and defects ; but it 
may safely be said, that the latter were at- 
tributable more to circumstances beyond his 
control, than to any original obliquity of his 
mind or heart. The want of early educa- 
tion, and the habits acquired by his pursuits 
in a rude and uncultivated state of society 
were obstacles to his attainment of some of 
the higher and better qualities, which were 
not to be overcome. A roughness of man- 
ners and coarseness of language, a pre- 
sumptuous way of reasoning upon all sub- 
jects, and his religious skepticism, may be 
traced to these sources. Faults of this 
stamp, and others akin to them, admit of no 
defence, though, when viewed in connexion 



ETHAIT ALLEN. 225 

witli their causes, they may have claims to a 
charitable judgment. Had his understand- 
ing been weak, his temperament less ardent, 
his disposition less inquisitive, and his desire 
of honorable distinction less eager, the world 
would probably never have heard of his 
faults ; the shield of insignificance would have 
covered them ; but it was his destiny to be 
conspicuous, without the art to conceal or 
culture to soften his foibles. 

Yet there is much to admire in the char- 
acter of Ethan Allen. He was brave, gen- 
erous, and frank, true to his friends, true to 
his country, consistent and unyielding in 
his purposes, seeking at all times to promote 
the bost iriterests of mankind, a lover of so- 
cial harmony, and a determined foe to the 
artifices of injustice and the encroachments 
of power. Few have suffered more in the 
cause of freedom, few have borne their suf- 
ferings with a firmer constancy or a loftier 
spirit. His courage, even when apparently 
approaching to rashness, was calm and de- 
liberate. No man probably ever possessed 
this attribute in a more remarkable "degree. 
He was eccentric and ambitious, but these 
weaknesses, if such they were, never be- 
trayed him into acts dishonorable, unwor- 
thy, or selfish. His enemies never had cause 
t/> question his magnanimity, nor his friends 

15 



226 MEMOIR OF ETHAN ALLEN. 

to regret confidence misplaced or expecta-. 
tions disappointed. He was kind and be 
nevolent, humane and placable. In sborl 
•whatever may have been his peculiarities, oi 
however these may have diminished the 
weight of his influence and the value of his 
pubHc services, it must be allowed, that he 
was a man of very considerable importance 
in the sphere of his activity, and that to no in- 
dividual among her patriot founders is the 
State of Vermont more indebted for the bar 
sis of her free institutions, and the achieve- 
ment of her independence, than to Eth4i^t 
Allen. 



-^^|>©<|^^ 



Ereatum.— On the 5th page, 12th line from the bottom, for 
" ONLY " read " eaely." The reader is desired to make this 
correction, with a pen or otherwise, as the present reading 
gives an entirely different meaning from the one intended by 
4he author, 



